Salience of loss of control for pediatric binge episodes: does size really matter?
OBJECTIVE
The subjective experience of loss of control (LOC) during eating, independent of overeating, may be a salient marker of disordered eating and risk for overweight in youth. However, few studies have directly tested this notion in an adequately powered sample.


METHODS
Three-hundred-sixty-seven youth (M ± SD age = 12.7 ± 2.8 y) were categorized as reporting objective binge eating (OBE; 12.5%), subjective binge eating (SBE; 11.4%), objective overeating without LOC (OO; 18.5%), or no episodes (NE; 57.5%). Disordered eating attitudes, general psychopathology, and adiposity were assessed.


RESULTS
Children with OBE and SBE generally did not differ in their disordered eating attitudes, emotional eating, eating in the absence of hunger, depressive and anxiety symptoms, or adiposity. However, both OBE and SBE youth had significantly greater disordered eating attitudes, emotional eating, eating in the absence of hunger, depressive and anxiety symptoms, and adiposity compared to those with OO or NE (ps < .05).


CONCLUSIONS
For non-treatment-seeking youth, LOC during eating episodes, rather than episode size, appears to be the most salient marker of eating and weight problems.
Shomaker
Lauren B
LB
Unit on Growth and Obesity, Program in Developmental Endocrinology and Genetics, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), National Institutes of Health (NIH), DHHS, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
Tanofsky-Kraff
Marian
M
Elliott
Camden
C
Wolkoff
Laura E
LE
Columbo
Kelli M
KM
Ranzenhofer
Lisa M
LM
Roza
Caroline A
CA
Yanovski
Susan Z
SZ
Yanovski
Jack A
JA
D050154:Adiposity; D000293:Adolescent; D056912:Binge-Eating Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D001828:Body Image; D002648:Child; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008297:Male