1. How are food addiction and dietary restraint related in adolescents over a two-year period?
This study aims to determine whether food and dietary restraint are correlated in a sample of adolescents (N = one hundred twenty-seven) in a longitudinal design over a two-year period of repeated assessment. The goal is to increase understanding of the temporal associations and possible directionality between food addiction and dietary restraint that appears during adolescence. Previous cross-sectional studies have shown small correlations between food addiction and dietary restraint in adolescents, but the nature of their relationship remains unclear. By examining these constructs over time, this study will shed light on potential temporal pathways and directionality in the relationship between food addiction and dietary restraint in adolescents. The findings will contribute to the existing literature on food addiction and dietary restraint, particularly in the context of adolescence, a high-risk period for both the emergence of dieting behaviors and heightened vulnerability to addictive behaviors. The results of this study will help clarify whether dietary restraint is a stronger predictor of future food addiction or vice versa, and whether dietary restraint is a less relevant construct in food addiction compared to binge-type eating disorders. Overall, this study will provide valuable insights into the relationship between food addiction and dietary restraint in adolescents and inform future research and interventions targeting these constructs.
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2. What age range were adolescent participants recruited for the study?
Adolescent participants, aged 13-16 years, were recruited for the study. The mean age was 14.8 years with a standard deviation of 1.1 years. A total of 127 participants were recruited from southeast Michigan using print and online advertisements. Parents or guardians provided written informed consent, and adolescents provided written informed assent prior to enrollment. The dimensional YFAS-C 2.0 was added to the questionnaire battery later in data collection, and 127 participants completed the measure at the initial wave of data collection (Time 1). Participants completed self-report measures at baseline (Time 1) and follow-ups after one year (Time 2) and two years (Time 3). Demographics were provided at baseline (Time 1), and data missingness was determined by availability of data for primary variables included in the cross-lagged panel analysis. Participants were excluded if they had a history of or current eating disorder diagnosis, current mood, anxiety, trauma, or psychotic disorders, current prescription for a psychotropic medication, or underweight BMI status.
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3. What demographics were collected in the study?
Participants self-reported their date of birth, race, gender, and parental education level. These demographics were collected through a questionnaire at the first study visit (Time 1).
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4. What statistical tests and packages were used in the data analytic plan?
Statistical tests were completed using R version 4.1.2 and the lavaan package [32]. Preliminary analyses were conducted to verify assumptions for cross-lagged panel analysis, including normality, stationarity, and synchronicity [31]. Full information maximum likelihood estimation was used to maximize sample size, assuming that all missing data was missing at random [33]. Outlier values were winsorized, and both primary variables were standardized. Cross-lagged panel design was used to examine temporal associations between food addiction and dietary restraint across three waves (Time 1, Time 2, and Time 3). Covariates such as age, gender, and BMI z-score were considered in the model. Zero-order correlations among variables of interest and covariates were tested at Time 1, Time 2, and Time 3. The results and figures reported here reflect the unadjusted structural equation models (SEM) [36].
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