Elucidating risk factors for the development of disordered eating and development of a pilot early intervention program
Primary Supervisor: Dr Deborah Mitchison (opens in a new window)
Current aetiological models for the development of eating disorders are founded on a research base that has relied heavily on clinical samples - mostly of young Western adult women. However, it is well known that fewer than 25% of people in the population who have an eating disorder ever access treatment for their eating disorder, and the rates of access are much lower for those with subclinical presentations. Thus, limiting research to treatment-seeking samples of young females who meet criteria for a clinical eating disorder leaves several knowledge gaps, none the least pertaining to eating disorder aetiology and early intervention. Longitudinal population-based research is required to improve our understanding of the risk and protective factors associated with subclinical and clinical eating disorders and their illness trajectories. Ultimately this line of inquiry will lead to improved predictive power in models of eating disorder risk, and will be the foundation for improved and innovative scalable prevention and early intervention initiatives to reduce the risk of young people developing clinical eating disorders.
This project will examine risk and protective factors for the development of subclinical and clinical eating disorders using the EveryBODY Study. The EveryBODY Study is a longitudinal cohort of 5000 adolescents aged 12-19 years (at baseline), the peak age of onset for eating disorders. The EveryBODY Study is unique worldwide in having collected phenotypical data on all 9 eating disorder variants (3 clinical, 6 subclinical), in addition to related body image disorders such as muscle dysmorphia and body dysmorphic disorder. Putative risk factors are also assessed including peer victimization, social media behaviours, gender contentedness and typicality, and fear of negative evaluation. Participants are surveyed annually, and data for the first 3 years has already been collected.
The successful applicant will conduct an extensive review of aetiological models and eating disorder risk factors. Given that there is already 3 years of cleaned data available, the candidate will have the benefit of being able to commence analyses immediately of risk factors in the 1-2 year period prior to eating disorder development (in the third year), and to model 2-year illness trajectories of those who met criteria for an eating disorder at baseline. The successful candidate will also have the opportunity to conduct primary data collection, by conducting additional follow-up surveys with the cohort over the 3 years of their PhD. These data collections will be added to the statistical models of eating disorder risk, illness trajectories, and resilience over the longer time period of 5 years. A concept paper proposing a theoretical model of eating disorder risk will be produced drawing from the findings of the PhD and extant literature. This model will then be used to inform the development of an evidence-based early intervention that is accessible/scalable (e.g., school-based) and cost-effective. A pilot of the intervention will be conducted focusing on its acceptability, feasibility and preliminary effectiveness.
The successful applicant should be able to demonstrate strong academic performance in subjects relevant to statistics, and research and design; be willing to learn qualitative research methods and statistical techniques applicable to longitudinal analysis; be enthusiastic and highly motivated to undertake further study at an advanced level.