Cited by 18Eating Disorders and BehaviorsObesity and Health PracticesNutrition, Health and Food Behavior

Treatment Outcomes and Trajectories of Change in Patients Attributing Their Eating Disorder Onset to Anti-obesity Messaging

Open access
Mensinger, Janell L., Cox, Shelbi A., Henretty, Jennifer R.·2021·Psychosomatic Medicine

Abstract

Objective: Given the increased prevalence of eating disorders (EDs) among individuals higher on the weight spectrum, we aimed to 1) report the prevalence of ED patients in higher levels of care (residential, partial hospitalization, and intensive outpatient) attributing the onset of their ED to anti-obesity messaging, 2) report the most commonly recollected sources of those messages, and 3) determine if those attributing the onset of their ED to anti-obesity messaging a) enter, b) exit, and c) respond to treatment differently from peers who did not. Methods: This retrospective cohort study used data from 2901 patients receiving ED treatment in higher levels of care at a US-based center between 2015 and 2018. Multilevel models examined differences in ED symptoms and trajectories of change over time. NVivo was used to analyze the patients’ comments about sources of messages. Results: Eighteen percent attributed their ED onset to anti-obesity messaging, 45% did not, and 37% were unsure. Of those providing comments, the most common sources included the following: educational curriculum/school context (45.9%), media/Internet (24.7%), health care (10.4%), family (9%), and peer bullying (3.7%). At admission, patients attributing their ED onset to anti-obesity messaging had more severe ED symptoms than those who did not (γ = 0.463, standard error [SE] = 0.086, p < .001) and those who were unsure (γ = 0.288, SE = 0.089, p < .001); no differences were evident at discharge ( p > .483). During phase 2 of treatment, patients attributing their ED onset to anti-obesity messaging improved faster than those who did not (γ = 0.003, SE = 0.001, p = .008) and those who were unsure (γ = 0.003, SE = 0.001, p = .014). Conclusions: Anti-obesity messaging may put vulnerable individuals at risk for EDs. We recommend increasing weight bias training for school personnel and health care professionals. To reduce health disparities, we also suggest the promotion of weight-neutral health-enhancing self-care practices in media and public health campaigns, legislative policies, and health care overall.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1097/psy.0000000000000962

Cites

88 of 88 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 3

  1. [46]Stice E Burger K. Dieting as a risk factor for eating disorders. In: Smolak L Levine M, editors. The Wiley Handbook of Eating Disorders. 1st ed. West Sussex, United Kingdom: John Wiley and Sons; 2015: 312– 23.
  2. [67]Fairburn C. Eating Disorder Examination (Edition 16.0 D) and Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q 6.0) Cognitive Therapy and Eating Disorders. New York, NY: Guilford Press; 2009: 265– 313.
  3. [73]Singer JD Willett JB. Applied Longitudinal Data Analysis: Modeling Change and Event Occurrence. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press; 2003.

Authors
Mensinger, J. L., Cox, S. A., & Henretty, J. R.
Affiliations
Center for Discovery (US)
Corresponding author
Mensinger, Janell L.
Venue
Psychosomatic Medicine
Published
2021-06-19
Volume
83
Issue
7
Pages
777-786
ISSN
  • 0033-3174 (ISSN-L)
  • 1534-7796
OpenAlex
W3178686055
Cited by
18
References
88
Citations by year
2026: 4 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 6
FWCI
2.22
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Psychosomatic Medicine (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • NSUWorks (Nova Southeastern University) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Eating Disorders and Behaviors
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › Pharmacy › Obesity and Health Practices
  • Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Nutrition, Health and Food Behavior
Keywords
eating disorders, weight stigma, eating disorder onset, treatment outcomes, change trajectories, peer bullying
MeSH terms
Feeding and Eating Disorders, Humans, Obesity, Retrospective Studies, Self Care, Treatment Outcome

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review