Eating Disorders More Likely in Girls with ADHD

<p>WEDNESDAY, March 19 (HealthDay News) -- Girls with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder-combined type (ADHD-C), who have deficits in both attention and hyperactivity-impulsivity, are more likely than girls with ADHD-inattentive type (ADHD-I) or other girls to develop eating pathologies as adolescents, according to a report in the February issue of the <i>Journal of Abnormal Psychology</i>.</p><p>Amori Yee Mikami, Ph.D., from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Va., and colleagues examined eating pathology (body image dissatisfaction and bulimia nervosa symptoms) in girls aged 6 to 12 years at baseline over a five-year period. Of these, 93 had ADHD-C, 47 had ADHD-I and 88 were controls.</p> <p>The researchers found that girls with ADHD-C at baseline had the most eating pathology, followed by those with ADHD-I, then the control group. Predictors of adolescent eating pathology included baseline impulsivity symptoms and baseline peer rejection and parent-child relationship problems. Punitive parenting in childhood was most strongly associated with pathological eating behaviors for girls with ADHD, the authors report.</p> <p>"We found evidence that girls with ADHD-C in childhood are at risk for self-reported, dimensional bulimia nervosa behaviors and body image dissatisfaction in adolescence, as well as parent-reported bulimia nervosa symptoms, relative to comparison girls," Mikami and colleagues conclude.</p> <p><a href=" http://content.apa.org/journals/abn/117/1/225 " target="_new">Abstract</a><br/><a href="http://content.apa.org/journals/abn/117/1/225.html" target="_new">Full Text (subscription or payment may be required)</a></p>

Copyright © 2008 <a href="http://www.physiciansbriefing.com/" target="_new">ScoutNews, LLC</a>. All rights reserved.