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Investigators from multiple institutions conducted an analysis to assess the relationship between cyberbullying, either as a victim or perpetrator, and eating disorder symptoms in early adolescents. For the study, they analyzed data from the year 2 follow-up of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study. ABCD is a longitudinal study assessing brain development and health in 11,875 youths recruited from 21 sites across the US. Participants in the current analysis were youths 10–14 years old with data on cyberbullying and eating disorder symptoms. Cyberbullying victimization or perpetration was determined by self-report to 2 items in the 2-year follow-up ABCD questionnaire. Eating disorder symptoms were classified using the Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia (KSADS-5), a computerized tool for categorizing mental health concerns based on Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, 5th Edition (DSM-5) criteria. Using KSADS-5 responses, participants were classified as having specific eating disorder symptoms, including worry about weight gain, self-worth tied to weight, inappropriate compensatory behaviors to lose weight (only eating foods with minimal calories, exercising a lot, throwing up, and taking diuretics, laxatives, or diet pills), binge eating, and distress with binge eating. Separate Poisson regression models were used to assess the relationship between either cyberbullying victimization or perpetration and each of the specific eating disorder symptoms. Demographic characteristics such as sex, race/ethnicity, household income, and parental education level were included in the regression models, and responses were weighted to provide nationally representative results.
Data were analyzed on 10,258 youths, with a mean age of 12.0 ±0.1 years. The prevalence of self-reported cyberbullying victimization and perpetration was 9.5% and 1.1%, respectively. Rates of eating disorder symptoms were 1.45% for worry about weight gain, 1.67% for self-worth tied to weight, 6.51% for inappropriate compensatory behaviors to lose weight, 7.50% for binge eating, and 2.89% for distress with binge eating. Compared to those who did not report being cyberbullied, cyberbullying victimization was significantly associated with worry about weight gain (prevalence ratio [PR], 2.41; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.48, 3.91), inappropriate compensatory behaviors to lose weight (PR, 1.95; 95% CI, 1.57, 2.42), binge eating (PR, 1.95; 95% CI, 1.59, 2.39), and distress about binge eating (PR, 2.64; 95% CI, 1.94, 3.59). Cyberbullying perpetration was associated with a significantly increased risk for worry about weight gain (PR, 3.52; 95% CI, 1.19, 3.07), self-worth tied to weight (PR, 5.59; 95% CI, 2.56, 12.20), binge eating (PR, 2.36; 95% CI, 1.44, 3.87), and distress with binge eating (PR, 2.84; 95% CI, 1.47, 5.49).
The authors conclude that self-reported cyberbullying victimization and perpetration in early adolescence were associated with eating disorder symptoms.
Dr Raphael has disclosed no financial relationship relevant to this commentary. This commentary does not contain a discussion of an unapproved/investigative use of a commercial product/device.
Cyberbullying is pervasive and occurs even in...
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