CE Activity

You have free access to this content

Bivariate analysis of disordered eating characteristics in adolescence and young adulthood†

  1. Melissa A. Munn MPE1,2,*,
  2. Michael C. Stallings PhD1,2,
  3. Soo Hyun Rhee PhD1,2,
  4. Laura E. Sobik PhD3,
  5. Robin P. Corley PhD2,
  6. Sally Ann Rhea BS2,
  7. John K. Hewitt PhD1,2

Article first published online: 18 OCT 2010

DOI: 10.1002/eat.20854

Issue

International Journal of Eating Disorders

International Journal of Eating Disorders

Volume 43, Issue 8, pages 751–761, December 2010

Additional Information

How to Cite

Munn, M. A., Stallings, M. C., Hyun Rhee, S., Sobik, L. E., Corley, R. P., Rhea, S. A. and Hewitt, J. K. (2010), Bivariate analysis of disordered eating characteristics in adolescence and young adulthood. Int. J. Eat. Disord., 43: 751–761. doi: 10.1002/eat.20854

Author Information

  1. 1

    Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado

  2. 2

    Institute for Behavioral Genetics, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado

  3. 3

    James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Virginia

*Institute for Behavioral Genetics, University of Colorado, 447 UCB, Boulder, Colorado 80503

  1. †

    Parts of this manuscript were presented at the Behavior Genetics Association conference in Amsterdam, June 2007.

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 10 NOV 2010
  2. Article first published online: 18 OCT 2010
  3. Manuscript Accepted: 27 JUN 2010

Funded by

  • National Institute of Drug Abuse. Grant Numbers: DA011015, DA012485
  • National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Grant Number: HD010333
  • National Institute of Mental Health. Grant Numbers: T32MH016990, F31MH084466
  • National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Grant Number: T32HD007289

SEARCH

SEARCH BY CITATION

ARTICLE TOOLS

View Full Article (HTML) Get PDF (283K)

Keywords:

  • eating disorders;
  • adolescence;
  • young adulthood;
  • twins;
  • bivariate analysis;
  • extended twin design

Abstract

Objective

We examined the etiology of two disordered eating characteristics.

Method

Participants included 1,470 female adolescent and young adult twins and their female nontwin siblings. Phenotypic factor analyses of a seven-item eating pathology screening tool yielded two factors: weight and shape concerns and behaviors (WSCB) and binge eating (BE). Univariate and bivariate extended twin analyses (including cotwins and nontwin siblings) were used to estimate the magnitude of genetic and environmental influences on these characteristics.

Results

Analyses indicated that individual differences in WSCB and BE could be explained by additive genetic influences (a2 = 0.43 (95% CI: 0.33–0.52) and 0.49 (95% CI: 0.36–0.58), respectively), with the remaining variance due to nonshared environmental influences. The genetic correlation between WSCB and BE was estimated at 0.64; the nonshared environmental correlation was estimated at 0.27.

Discussion

These results corroborate previous findings on genetic and environmental influences on disordered eating characteristics and suggest that findings can be extended to nontwin populations. © 2010 by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Eat Disord 2010; 43:751–761

View Full Article (HTML) Get PDF (283K)