Impact of Parent Lifetime Depression and Anxiety on Youth Body Dissatisfaction and Disordered Eating Symptoms During Adolescence

Eating disorders (ED) are dangerous psychiatric conditions that can emerge in youth. In previous work, child psychopathology increased risk for elevated body dissatisfaction and ED. Although parent psychopathology contributes to a range of psychological disorders, it has not yet been tested as a risk factor for youth body dissatisfaction and ED symptoms. The current prospective study tested whether lifetime parent anxiety and depression (measured when the child was ages 3 and 9) predicted adolescent body dissatisfaction at age 12 and 15 and symptoms of anorexia nervosa (AN) or bulimia nervosa (BN) at age 15 in a community sample of youth. We also examined whether child psychopathology at age 3 or 6 (anxiety, depression, and oppositional defiant disorder [ODD]) moderated, and body dissatisfaction mediated, these relationships. Maternal anxiety and depression predicted youth body dissatisfaction at age 12, and maternal and paternal depression predicted youth body dissatisfaction at age 15. Preregistered moderation and mediation analyses (https://osf.io/s8a6y) identified that child ODD moderated relationships between maternal anxiety and youth AN symptoms at age 15 and between paternal anxiety and youth body dissatisfaction at age 12. In addition, youth body dissatisfaction at age 12 mediated relationships between both maternal anxiety and depression and youth AN symptoms at age 15. The present study demonstrates additional vulnerability factors in early childhood that may increase risk for the development of body dissatisfaction and ED symptoms in early and middle adolescence. These data suggest that parent psychopathology should be an area of focus when evaluating early childhood risk factors for EDs.