Reciprocal prospective associations between disordered eating and other psychological problems in a community sample of Swedish adolescent girls

•A 2-wave prospective study was carried out in a community sample of young girls.•Disordered eating was reciprocally associated with general psychological problems.•Disordered eating was reciprocally associated with hyperactivity–inattention.•Body dissatisfaction was a risk factor for disordered eating, but not the reverse.

Disordered eating and its associations with psychological difficulties and body satisfaction were prospectively studied in a community sample of 13–15 year old adolescent girls (N = 428). General psychological difficulties (including hyperactivity–inattention) and lower levels of body satisfaction at T1 were found to predict disordered eating at follow-up one year later (T2). Furthermore, reciprocal associations were found between disordered eating and psychological difficulties (but not body dissatisfaction) so that disordered eating at T1 predicted general psychological difficulties (including hyperactivity–inattention) at T2. The results support the notion of a vicious interplay between disordered eating and other subclinical psychological problems, which may represent a potential mechanism for the development of clinically significant eating disorders. It is suggested that it could be important to identify these kinds of bidirectional processes at an early stage, in order to prevent further developments of clinical forms of psychopathology.