The heritability of disordered eating increases during puberty; however, prior studies have largely examined a composite score of disordered eating, rather than specific symptoms. Body weight and shape concerns cut across all eating disorder diagnoses and are some of the strongest prospective risk factors for the development of eating disorders. Yet, little is known about potential developmental increases or decreases in genetic and environmental influences for these key symptoms. This study examined differences in genetic and environmental effects on a range of body weight and shape concerns during puberty and compared results to findings for overall levels of disordered eating symptoms. Participants were 926 same-sex female twins (ages 8-16) from the Michigan State University Twin Registry. Well-validated questionnaires were used to examine pubertal maturation, overall levels of disordered eating, and a range of cognitive body weight/shape constructs: body dissatisfaction, weight/shape concerns, and weight preoccupation. Findings for overall levels of disordered eating were very similar to those obtained in previous work, with significantly increased genetic effects in girls at more advanced pubertal development. Importantly, these same pubertal increases in genetic influences were observed for body dissatisfaction and weight/shape concerns. However, no pubertal moderation of genetic effects was observed for weight preoccupation; instead, pubertal moderation of nonshared and shared environmental effects was observed. Our findings point to differences in the extent to which genetic and environmental factors contribute to various cognitive body weight and shape symptoms during puberty.

中文翻译：

---

女性青春期发育过程中遗传和环境影响体重和体形的差异。

青春期饮食失调的遗传力会增加；但是，先前的研究在很大程度上检查了饮食失调的综合评分，而不是具体症状。体重和体型问题贯穿所有进食障碍的诊断，是进食障碍发展的最强前瞻性风险因素。然而，对于这些关键症状，遗传和环境影响的潜在发展性增加或减少知之甚少。这项研究检查了青春期期间一系列体重和形状问题对遗传和环境影响的差异，并将结果与​​饮食失调症状总体水平的发现进行了比较。参加者是来自密歇根州立大学双子登记处的926名同性女双胞胎（8-16岁）。经过充分验证的调查问卷用于检查青春期成熟度，饮食失调的总体水平以及一系列认知的体重/身材构造：身体不满意，体重/身材问题和体重偏爱。饮食失调总体水平的发现与以前的工作非常相似，青春期发育较快的女孩的遗传效应显着增加。重要的是，由于身体不满意和体重/形状问题，观察到这些青春期遗传影响的增加。然而，体重偏向没有观察到青春期的遗传效应。取而代之的是，观察到青春期适度的非共享和共享环境影响。