Offer, S., Alexander, E., Barbara, K. et al. (3 more authors) (2022) The association between childhood trauma and overweight and obesity in young adults: the mediating role of food addiction. Eating and Weight Disorders - Studies on Anorexia, Bulimia and Obesity, 27 (8). pp. 3257-3266. ISSN 1124-4909
Abstract
Purpose Childhood trauma is associated with increased risk of obesity during adulthood, which may be associated with the development of food addiction. This study examined whether food addiction mediated the relationship between childhood trauma and obesity in young adults.
Methods A sample of 512 young adults, aged 18 to 30 years, living with overweight and obesity (Body Mass Index ≥ 25 kg/m2), from the United Kingdom participated in the study. Participants completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), the Yale Food Addiction Scale, and provided their current height and weight to compute their Body Mass Index (BMI).
Results Using the PROCESS macro, a mediation analysis found that food addiction accounted for 45% of variance in the relationship between childhood trauma and BMI. Post hoc analyses were conducted to examine the mediating effect of food addiction across each of the five subscales of the CTQ (emotional/physical/sexual abuse and emotional/physical neglect). Food addiction accounted for 32% to 51% of the variance in the relationship between each CTQ subscale and BMI.
Conclusions These findings suggest that experiences of childhood trauma are associated with the development of overweight and obesity during early adulthood and up to half of this relationship can be attributed to food addiction, which is likely used as a maladaptive coping mechanism in response to trauma. Young adults living with overweight and obesity who report experiences of childhood trauma may benefit from the support of clinical and counselling psychologists to improve their understanding of the underlying psychosocial factors that influence their eating behaviours.
Level of evidence Level V, cross-sectional analytic study.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Author(s) 2022. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
Keywords: | Childhood trauma; Food addiction; Overweight; Obesity; Young adults |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Medicine and Health (Leeds) > School of Psychology (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 01 Aug 2023 10:16 |
Last Modified: | 01 Aug 2023 10:16 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Springer |
Identification Number: | 10.1007/s40519-022-01454-y |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:201995 |