The relation among stress, psychological symptoms, and eating disorder symptoms: a prospective analysis.

Prior research has shown that psychopathology and stress are associated with eating disorder symptoms, but the relations among these variables were confounded by concurrent measurement at a single point in time. The present study examined the relations among stress, psychological, and eating disorder symptoms prospectively over 4 months in 143 adolescent girls. In cross-sectional analyses at follow-up, controlling for baseline levels, stress and eating disorder symptoms each predicted changes in the other. Eating disorder symptoms were not predicted by psychological symptoms nor vice versa. Stress was predicted by eating disorder symptoms from the first assessment to follow-up. On balance, the results are somewhat stronger for the argument that eating disorder symptoms are predictive of subsequent psychological stress over short periods of time.