Traditional versus developmental measures of weight suppression: Exploring their relationships with bulimic psychopathology. (26th April 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Lowe, Michael; Singh, Simar; Apple, Danielle E.; Mayer, Laurel; Rosenbaum, Michael; Espel‐Huynh, Hallie; Thomas, J. Graham; Neff, Kirstie M.; Zhang, Fengqing
• Is Part Of: European eating disorders review. Volume 30:Number 4(2022)
• Page Start: 412
• Page End: 425
• Publication Date: 2022-04-26
• Subjects: bulimia nervosa -- developmental weight suppression -- dieting -- weight loss -- weight suppression; Eating disorders -- Periodicals; 616.8526
• DOI: 10.1002/erv.2903
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1072-4133

Abstract

Abstract: Objective: Weight suppression (WS) is related to a wide variety of eating disorder characteristics. However, individuals with eating disorders usually reach their highest premorbid weight while still developing physically. Therefore, a more sensitive index of individual differences in highest premorbid weight may be one that compares highest premorbid z‐BMI to current z‐BMI (called developmental weight suppression [DWS] here). Method: In this exploratory study, we compared the relationships between traditional weight suppression (TWS) and DWS and a variety of measures related to bulimic psychopathology in 91 females (M age, 25.2; 60.5% White), with clinical or sub‐clinical bulimia nervosa. Results: TWS and DWS were correlated ( r = 0.40, p < 0.001). TWS was only significantly related to a measure of physical activity whereas DWS was related to 14 outcomes. DWS showed consistent positive relations with behavioural outcomes (e.g., binge eating) but consistent negative relations with cognitive/affective outcomes (e.g., weight concerns). Conclusions: Findings indicated much more consistent relationships between the novel DWS measure and bulimic characteristics than with the TWS measure. DWS showed both positive and negative relations with bulimic symptoms, though these findings require replication to confirm their validity. Consistent evidence indicated that the two WS measures served as mutual suppressor variables. Highlights: Long‐term weight loss (called weight suppression) appears to contribute to the development and maintenance of bulimia nervosa. This study found that if the weight suppression measure is based on expected weight‐for‐height during physical development (called "developmental weight suppression, " it correlates much more frequently with bulimic characteristics, relative to the traditional measure of weight suppression. These findings indicate that, when possible, future studies of the role of weight suppression in eating disorders should examine both the traditional and the developmental measure of weight suppression.