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Here’s a concise bullet-point gist with key quotes from the paper you shared:
Background
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“Autistic individuals and individuals with ADHD are more likely to experience eating disorders, yet the reasons for this are not well understood.”
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Eating behaviours examined: emotional/restrained and externally driven eating.
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Study investigates childhood neurodivergent traits → adolescent eating behaviours, sex differences, and anxiety as a mediator.
Methods
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Cohort: Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), N = 7,572.
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Childhood traits assessed at age 7:
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Autistic traits: Social and Communication Disorders Checklist (SCDC)
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ADHD traits: Development and Well-Being Questionnaire (DAWBA), separated into inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity
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Anxiety assessed at age 10: DAWBA composite score.
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Eating behaviours at age 13: Abbreviated Dutch Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (DEBQ)
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Collapsed emotional + restrained eating into one factor due to overlap
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Externally driven eating treated as separate factor
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Results
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Autistic traits → adolescent eating:
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Emotional/restrained eating: b = 0.59, p < .001
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Externally driven eating: b = 0.17, p < .01
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Quote: “Autistic traits in childhood may share some eating behaviour phenotypes in adolescence (externally driven eating), whereas others are specific to autism (emotional/restrained eating).”
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ADHD traits → adolescent eating:
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Inattention associated with externally driven eating: b = 0.10, p = .02
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Hyperactivity/impulsivity not associated with eating behaviours
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Sex moderation:
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“No sex differences were identified in the associations.”
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Anxiety mediation:
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Anxiety partially mediated autistic traits → emotional/restrained eating: b = 0.08, 95% CI [0.02, 0.13]
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Quote: “Around 14% of the observed association between autistic traits and adolescent emotional/restrained eating was mediated by anxiety.”
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Anxiety not associated with externally driven eating
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Discussion / Interpretation
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Autistic traits have specific links to emotional/restrained eating, while both autistic and inattention traits are linked to externally driven eating.
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Anxiety is a mechanistic pathway for emotional/restrained eating in autistic youth.
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Quote: “Addressing high levels of anxiety…may improve treatment outcomes for autistic people seeking support with disordered eating.”
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No significant sex differences detected, potentially due to measurement tools and historical underdiagnosis in females.
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Implications for prevention and intervention: targeting anxiety and tailored support for neurodivergent youth.
Strengths
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Large, longitudinal, population-based cohort
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Inclusion of both autism and ADHD traits in the same model
Limitations
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Parent-reported measures may be biased
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Limited ethnic diversity (96% White)
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Only two items for restrained eating; other eating disorder forms not examined
Key Points (from the paper)
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Known: Autism and ADHD increase risk for disordered eating.
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New: Autistic traits → emotional/restrained & externally driven eating; ADHD traits → externally driven eating; anxiety partially mediates autistic traits → emotional/restrained eating.
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Relevant: Anxiety may be a target for preventing disordered eating in autistic youth.
If you want, I can also make a super-condensed “one-page visual summary” with arrows showing traits → anxiety → eating behaviours, which makes it easy to present or share.
Do you want me to do that?
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