Missing Emotional Development Milestones in Childhood Associated With Anorexia Risk

Children who struggle to regulate their emotions as they grow older may be at greater risk of exhibiting symptoms consistent with a diagnosis of anorexia nervosa at age 14, according to astudy published in JAMA Psychiatry.Though interventions in childhood could prevent anorexia nervosa, “targets for such interventions are elusive,” wrote Mariella Henderson, M.Sc., of the University College London, Helen Bould, Ph.D., of Bristol Medical School, and colleagues. Emotion regulation, however, “defined as the ability to both intrinsically and extrinsically monitor, appraise, and mo dify one’s emotional state, has been increasingly proposed as a potential target,” the authors continued.Henderson, Bould, and colleagues used data from the Millennium Cohort Study, a longitudinal study in the United Kingdom of children born from 2000 to 2002. When the children were 3, 5, and 7 years of age, their mothers reported on their emotion regulation abilities over the previous six months using five questions from the Child Social Behavior Questionnaire (a modified version of the Adaptive Social Behavior Inventory). Scores ranged from zero to 10, with higher scores indicating greater difficulties regulating emotions.When the children were age 14, the researchers used a set of questions broadly coveringDSM-5criteria for anorexia nervosa and atypical anorexia nervosa to identify participants who had behaviors and thoughts consistent with these two diagnoses (which the authors termed “br...
Source: Psychiatr News - Category: Psychiatry Tags: adolescents anorexia body image Child Social Behavior Questionnaire children emotional regulation JAMA Psychiatry Millennium Cohort Study Source Type: research