Do depressive symptoms explain associations between binge eating symptoms and later psychosocial adjustment in young adulthood?

Prospective associations between binge eating symptoms (i.e., objective overeating [OOE] and loss of control [LOC] eating) and psychosocial functioning during emerging adulthood were examined using data from the Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health. We examined associations between OOE and LOC eating and psychosocial functioning variables with and without adjusting for concurrent depressive symptoms. Analyses revealed that OOE at Wave 3 (ages 18-28) was associated with depressive symptoms, social isolation, weight perception, and perceived attractiveness seven years later at Wave 4 (ages 25-35) and LOC eating at Wave 3 was associated with later depressive symptoms, suicidal thoughts, weight perception, social isolation, number of close friends, and sleep difficulty. Analyses adjusted for depressive symptoms at Wave 3 revealed that OOE at Wave 3 was associated with social isolation and perceived attractiveness at Wave 4 and LOC eating at Wave 3 was associated with later depressive symptoms, isolation, number of close friends, and sleep difficulty. Results show that binge eating symptoms are prospectively associated with psychosocial impairment during emerging adulthood even after controlling for depressive symptoms. Rather than simply screening for depressive symptoms, results highlight the utility of screening for binge eating symptoms as these symptoms are independently associated with psychosocial impairment in emerging adults.