The acquired preparedness model of risk for bulimic symptom development

Abstract

The authors applied person-environment transaction theory to test the acquired preparedness model of eating disorder risk. The model holds that (a) middle-school girls high in the trait of ineffectiveness are differentially prepared to acquire high-risk expectancies for reinforcement from dieting or thinness; (b) those expectancies predict subsequent binge eating and purging; and (c) the influence of the disposition of ineffectiveness on binge eating and purging is mediated by dieting or thinness expectancies. In a three-wave longitudinal study of 394 middle-school girls, the authors found support for the model. Seventh-grade girls' scores on ineffectiveness predicted their subsequent endorsement of high-risk dieting or thinness expectancies, which in turn predicted subsequent increases in binge eating and purging. Statistical tests of mediation supported the hypothesis that the prospective relation between ineffectiveness and binge eating was mediated by dieting or thinness expectancies, as was the prospective relation between ineffectiveness and purging. This application of a basic science theory to eating disorder risk appears fruitful, and the findings suggest the importance of early interventions that address both disposition and learning.

Figure 1

Figure 1 depicts the relationship between binge eating at Time 3 and purging at Time 3 as predicted by dieting/thinness expectancies at Time 2. The best fit lowess line is shown, as well as the scatter plot describing the relationships. Scatterplots report raw data, so the points that appear to be in bold simply indicate that there are more cases at those specific points. For these scatterplots, dieting/thinness expectancies are not centered.

Figure 2

Figure 2 depicts model C for binge eating. Included are relationships between ineffectiveness (IE), binge eating, linear thinness expectancies (LTE) and quadratic thinness expectancies (QTE) at Years 1 (7^th grade), 2 (8^th grade), and 3 (9^th grade). The arrows represent the significant tested pathways; the corresponding numbers refer to the maximum likelihood coefficient for each respective relationship. The effect of quadratic thinness expectancies was modeled with the inclusion of the corresponding path from linear thinness expectancies, in order to test the quadratic effect with the linear effect controlled. The linear quadratic expectancy pathways are not included when they are non-significant. Also modeled, but excluded from the figure, were parcel loadings, time 1 correlations among all latent and measured variables, residual and disturbance terms, and cross-construct, within-time correlations of residual terms. *p< 0.05; **p<0.01.

Figure 3

Figure 3 depicts model C for purging. Included are relationships between ineffectiveness (IE), purging, linear thinness expectancies (LTE) and quadratic thinness expectancies (QTE) at Years 1 (7^th grade), 2 (8^th grade), and 3 (9^th grade). The arrows represent the significant tested pathways; the corresponding numbers refer to the maximum likelihood coefficient for each respective relationship. The effect of quadratic thinness expectancies was modeled with the inclusion of the corresponding path from linear thinness expectancies, in order to test the quadratic effect with the linear effect controlled. The linear quadratic expectancy pathways are not included when they are non-significant. Also modeled, but excluded from the figure, were parcel loadings, time 1 correlations among all latent and measured variables, residual and disturbance terms, and cross-construct, within-time correlations of residual terms. ^ap<0.06; *p< 0.01.