The role of body image dissatisfaction in the relationship between body size and disordered eating and self-harm: complimentary Mendelian randomization and mediation analyses.

ABSTRACT: Disordered eating and self-harm commonly co-occur in young people suggesting potential for shared underlying causes. Body image dissatisfaction (BID) has been recognised as a psychological correlate of body size, associated with both disordered eating and self-harm. However, the investigation into etiological pathways early in the lifecourse to provide detail on how body size and BID may foster disordered eating and self-harm remains largely unexplored. Employing data from two large population-based cohorts, the UK Biobank and the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents And Children (ALSPAC), we conducted bidirectional Mendelian randomization (MR) to determine the causal direction of effect between genetically predicted prepubertal body size and two measures of BID indicating (i) desire to be s

SUBMITTER: Power GM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11746148 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature