Transdiagnostic vulnerability factors in eating disorders: A network analysis

European Eating Disorders Review, vol. 29, pp. 86–100

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Eating disorder (ED) symptoms and transdiagnostic vulnerability characteristics play a crucial role in the aetiology and maintenance of EDs. Over the last decade, researchers have started to model complex interrelations between symptoms using network models, but the literature is limited in that it has focused solely on symptoms and investigated-specific disorders while ignoring transdiagnostic aspects of mental health. METHOD: This study tackles these challenges by investigating network relations among core ED symptoms, comorbid clinical symptoms (depression and anxiety) and empirically supported vulnerability and protective mechanisms (personality traits, maladaptive cognitive schemata, perfectionism and resilience) in a sample of 2302 treatment-seeking ED patients. We estimated a regularized partial correlation network to obtain conditional dependence relations among all variables. We estimated node centrality (interconnectivity) and node predictability (the overall magnitude of symptom inter-relationships). RESULTS: The findings indicate a central role of overvigilance, excessive focus on inhibiting emotions and feelings, interoceptive awareness and perfectionism. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that excessive control of bodily aspects by dietary restraint (possibly through inhibition) and interoceptive awareness may be important constructs that warrant future research in understanding vulnerability in EDs. We provide all code and data via the Open Science Framework.

Authors 5

1. Myriam Vervaet corresponding

   Ghent University

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Head and Skin Ghent University Ghent Belgium

   Correspodence

   Department of Head and Skin, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

   Myriam Vervaet, Department of Head and Skin, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Corneel Heymanslaan 10- 1K12F (Entrance 17), B-9000 GENT, Ghent, Belgium

2. Louise Puttevils

   Ghent University

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Head and Skin Ghent University Ghent Belgium

   Ghent Experimental Psychiatry (GHEP) Lab Ghent Belgium

   Department of Head and Skin, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

   Ghent Experimental Psychiatry (GHEP) Lab, Ghent, Belgium

3. Ria H. A. Hoekstra

   University of Amsterdam

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Psychological Methods University of Amsterdam Amsterdam The Netherlands

   Department of Psychological Methods, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

4. Eiko I. Fried Aachen Department of Clinical Psychology University of Leiden Leiden The Netherlands Department of Clinical Psychology

   Leiden University

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Clinical Psychology University of Leiden Leiden The Netherlands

   Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Leiden, Leiden, The Netherlands

5. Marie–Anne Vanderhasselt

   Ghent University

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Experimental‐Clinical and Health Psychology Ghent University Ghent Belgium

   Department of Head and Skin Ghent University Ghent Belgium

   Ghent Experimental Psychiatry (GHEP) Lab Ghent Belgium

   Department of Experimental-Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

   Department of Head and Skin, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

   Ghent Experimental Psychiatry (GHEP) Lab, Ghent, Belgium