How much does your mental health have to do with your eating habits? Research suggests that they are strongly linked. A new study published in Brain and Behavior provides evidence that even subclinical levels of anxiety and depression can be related to disordered eating.
Many young adults struggle with eating disorders, which can lead to lasting health problems or even death. Best outcomes for people who are affected by an eating disorder occur when treatment is started early. Anxiety disorders and major depression are correlated with higher rates of eating disordered behavior. Subclinical depression and anxiety levels can be very harmful to people’s quality of life as well, similarly to formally diagnosed anxiety or depression.
Researchers Kaitlyn M. Eck and Carol Byrd-Bredbenner utilized a college sample due to their high rates of depression, anxiety, and eating disorders. They had 1792 participants who were undergraduate students between the ages of 18 and 25. All participants completed measures on generalized anxiety disorder, clinical depression, and eating disorders. The eating disorder measure was separated into subscales, which included eating concerns, shape concerns, weight concerns, binge eating, purging behavior, and restraint eating.
Results showed that as anxiety and depression both rise, so does eating disorder severity. This is consistent with previous research that showed that anxiety and depression separately are associated with higher eating disorder behavior. Results also showed that subclinical levels of anxiety and depression were also associated with increased severity in eating disordered behavior. This research suggests that anxiety and depression levels should be measured when an individual is diagnosed with an eating disorder or is showing any eating disordered behaviors. This could lead to more effective and comprehensive treatment.
This study took strides to better understand the relationships between eating disorder behaviors and severity and levels of anxiety and depression. Despite this, it had some limitations. For example, this study was cross-sectional, utilized only college students from one specific university. The measures used were self-report, which can be less accurate due to social desirability biases.
The study, “Disordered eating concerns, behaviors, and severity in young adults clustered by anxiety and depression“, was published November 26, 2021.