Better decision-making skills may help young people resist problematic eating behaviours

Previous cross-sectional studies, which observe the variables of interest at a single point in time, have indicated that decision-making might be important for understanding eating disorders.

However in order to draw stronger conclusions about how decision-making might affect the development of eating disorders, UCL researchers have been able to draw on data from the national longitudinal Millennium Cohort Study.

Using this data, researchers at IOE conducted an analysis to gain greater insights into how decision-making, measured in childhood and adolescence at ages 11 and 14, might be related to the presence of early symptoms (or prodromes) in adolescence at ages 14 and 17, before any eating disorder fully develops.

The data allowed researchers to investigate whether participants had reported symptoms typical of prodromal eating disorder pathology. They compared these variables against the quality of the young people's decision-making.

Findings

Lower-quality decision-making, coupled with shorter deliberation times, was significantly associated with early indicators of eating disorder symptoms by ages 14 and 17. This indicates that participants who took less time before making inaccurate decisions were likely to also show persistent eating disorder prodromes throughout adolescence.

In contrast, a more moderate decision-making approach was significantly associated with an absence of prodromal eating pathology at ages 14 and 17. This moderate approach was characterised by being more tolerant of delayed rewards, and shorter deliberation times to make decisions that were less risky.

Recommendations

The researchers concluded that training young people to develop more advantageous decision-making skills could help protect them from developing prodromal eating disorder pathology later on in adolescence.

Impact

Understanding the factors involved in the early stages of eating disorder symptoms will enable the development of strategies that help young people to develop resilience to these serious mental illnesses.

Next steps and collaboration

The researchers plan to develop a game that helps children aged 11-14 to learn advantageous decision-making skills around food and exercise. Monitoring these young peoples' outcomes will contribute to an evaluation of whether training in this manner can protect them against developing eating disorder symptoms later in adolescence.

The researchers are looking for an Industry Partner software developer and games specialist to collaborate with. If this could be you, please get in touch with Dr Amy Harrison at a.harrison@ucl.ac.uk.

Future research implications

Dr Amy Harrison discussed the project's early findings and implications for future research in this talk presented at the 2020 Academy for Eating Disorders International Conference on Eating Disorders.

Key information

• Department: Psychology and Human Development
• Project dates: March 2019 - July 2021
• Project team: Dr Amy Harrison (Principle Investigator), Professor Eirini Flouri (Co-Investigator) and Dr Marta Francesconi (Post-doctoral researcher).
• Funders: Medical Research Council; Mental Health Foundation.

Explore more

Reports

• Decision-Making in Childhood Predicts Prodromal Eating Pathology in Adolescence (Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics)
• Does decision-making at age 11 predict prodromal eating pathology at ages 14 and 17? A prospective, observational, UK population-based cohort study (BMJ Open)

Listen on the IOE podcast

• What’s the link between decision-making and eating disorders?

Millenium Cohort Study

• Millennium Cohort Study

Help and support

If you would like information and support about eating disorders, please visit the Beat website.

By Sarah-Jane Gregori.

Image

Laura / Adobe Stock.