ABSTRACT

Adolescent military-dependents are an understudied population who face unique stressors due to their parents’ careers. Research suggests tat adolescent military-dependents report more anxiety and disordered-eating than their civilian counterparts. While anxiety symptoms predict the onset and worsening of disordered-eating attitudes, the mechanisms underlying this relationship remain unclear. One factor that may underlie this relationship, and be particularly relevant for military-dependent youth, is coping. Therefore, we examined adolescent military-dependents (N = 136; 14.5 ± 1.5 years; 59.6% female; BMI-z: 1.9 ± 0.4) who were at-risk for adult obesity and binge-eating disorder due to an age- and sex-adjusted BMI ≥ 85^th percentile and loss-of-control eating and/or elevated anxiety. Participants completed an interview assessing disordered-eating attitudes and questionnaires on anxiety symptoms and coping strategies at a single time point. Bootstrapping models were conducted to examine the indirect paths between anxiety symptoms and disordered-eating attitudes through five coping subscales (aggression, distraction, endurance, self-distraction, and stress-recognition). Adjusting for relevant covariates, no significant indirect paths through the coping subscales (ps > .05) were found in any models. General coping, nonspecific to eating, may not be a pathway between anxiety symptoms and disordered-eating attitudes among adolescents. Future research should examine other potential mediators of this relationship.Abbreviations: BMI-z, BMI standard deviation score, adjusted for age and sex; LECI-C, Life Events and Coping Inventory – Coping

摘要

青少年军人家属是一个未被充分研究的群体，他们由于父母的职业而面临着独特的压力。研究表明，青少年军人家属比平民青少年更加焦虑和饮食失调。虽然焦虑症状预示着饮食失调态度的发生和恶化，但这种关系背后的机制仍不清楚。可能构成这种关系的一个因素是应对，并且与依赖军队的年轻人尤其相关。因此，我们研究了青少年军人家属（N = 136；14.5 ± 1.5 岁；59.6% 女性；BMI- z：1.9 ± 0.4），他们因年龄和性别而面临成人肥胖和暴食症的风险^-调整后BMI≥85th百分位和饮食失控和/或焦虑加剧。参与者在单个时间点完成了评估饮食失调态度的访谈以及有关焦虑症状和应对策略的调查问卷。引导模型通过五个应对子量表（攻击性、分心、耐力、自我分心和压力识别）来检查焦虑症状和饮食失调态度之间的间接路径。调整相关协变量后，在任何模型中均未发现通过应对子量表 ( p s > .05) 的显着间接路径。非特定于饮食的一般应对可能不是青少年焦虑症状和饮食失调态度之间的途径。未来的研究应该检查这种关系的其他潜在调节因素。缩写：BMI- z，BMI标准差评分，根据年龄和性别进行调整；LECI-C，生活事件和应对清单 – 应对