Eating Attitudes study - review and summary!

Comparison of Eating Attitudes between Adolescent Girls with and without Asperger Syndrome: Daughters' and Mothers' Reports

Yes eating problems associated with ASDs. All studies have looked at small numbers of males and at BMI, not eating attitudes.

Aims:
- explore eating attitudes of teen girls with AS
- examine level of agreement between mothers’ and daughters’ reports of eating problems

Sample:
- 56 girls with AS and 56 neurotypical girls ages 12-18
- Groups matched on age and BMI; neurotypical girls had higher full-scale IQ scores
- Diagnosed by a multidisciplinary team; used the ADOS
- Mainland Greece

Measures:
Girls and their mothers completed the Eating Attitudes Test-26 (3 subscales: dieting, bulimia and food preoccupation, and oral control); scores above 20 are of concern

Results:
- Teen girls with AS (26%) reported more eating problems than the control girls for bulimia and oral control but not dieting
- Mothers of teen girls with AS also reported more eating problems – across all 3 scales
- Across both groups, daughters report more problems than their mothers do, though the overall agreement between parent-child was high

Discussion:
- Prevalence of eating problems in girls with ASDs may be quite high
- Need longitudinal studies examining histories of eating difficulties and concerns
- Need to understand the social and cognitive similarities between AS and anorexia nervosa, e.g., rigidities, difficulties with reflective self functioning

More research is needed!

Need to look at findings for North American adolescents

Need to look at relationship between eating difficulties and degree of inflexiblity/rigidity overall

Need to examine how to treat eating disordered behavior for teens with AS