Delving into the role of reward and punishment sensitivity in anorexia nervosa: Punishment responsivity as the only predictor of eating disorder symptom persistence in adolescents.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

This study differentiated between self-reported punishment responsivity (PR) and motivation to avoid punishment (MP) and examined their relationship with anorexia nervosa (AN) and its course in a combined cross-sectional and longitudinal approach. We explored whether inconsistent findings regarding reward sensitivity may be explained by previous research not differentiating between reward responsivity (RR) and motivation to approach reward (MR).

Method

Participants were 69 adolescents with AN and 69 adolescents without AN matched on age, sex and educational level. Eating disorder (ED) symptom severity, PR, MP, RR, and MR were assessed at the start of treatment and 1 year later.

Results

Only PR was higher in patients with AN than in the comparison group. Both

SUBMITTER: Jonker NC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11617797 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature