Community Violence Exposure and Eating Disorder Symptoms among Belgian, Russian and US Adolescents: Cross-Country and Gender Perspectives

Abstract Community violence exposure (CVE) is one of the most common adverse childhood experiences worldwide. Despite this, its potential effect on disordered eating in adolescents from different cultures is underexplored. In the present cross-sectional study, self-reported data were collected from 9751 students (Mean age = 14.27) from Belgium, Russia and the US on CVE (witnessing violence and violence victimization), eating disorder (ED) symptoms (ED thoughts with associated compensatory behaviors), and comorbid symptoms of posttraumatic stress, depression and anxiety. Increased CVE (from no... Mehr ...

Verfasser: Isaksson, Johan
Isaksson, Martina
Stickley, Andrew
Vermeiren, Robert
Koposov, Roman
Schwab-Stone, Mary
Ruchkin, Vladislav
Dokumenttyp: Artikel
Erscheinungsdatum: 2023
Reihe/Periodikum: Child Psychiatry & Human Development ; ISSN 0009-398X 1573-3327
Verlag/Hrsg.: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Schlagwörter: Psychiatry and Mental health / Developmental and Educational Psychology / Pediatrics / Perinatology and Child Health
Sprache: Englisch
Permalink: https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-26497888
Datenquelle: BASE; Originalkatalog
Powered By: BASE
Link(s) : http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10578-023-01590-1

Abstract Community violence exposure (CVE) is one of the most common adverse childhood experiences worldwide. Despite this, its potential effect on disordered eating in adolescents from different cultures is underexplored. In the present cross-sectional study, self-reported data were collected from 9751 students (Mean age = 14.27) from Belgium, Russia and the US on CVE (witnessing violence and violence victimization), eating disorder (ED) symptoms (ED thoughts with associated compensatory behaviors), and comorbid symptoms of posttraumatic stress, depression and anxiety. Increased CVE (from no exposure to witnessing to victimization) was associated with more ED symptoms, and the associations remained significant after adjusting for comorbid conditions. The associations were similar for adolescents across the three countries. No gender differences were observed in the association between CVE and ED symptoms, even though girls in general reported more ED symptoms than boys. We conclude that CVE appears to be associated with ED symptoms in three culturally different samples of adolescents.