Disordered eating often involves many of the behaviours we associate with eating disorders, such as:
Avoiding certain food groups
Binge eating
Calorie restriction or extreme dieting
However, an eating disorder is a clinical diagnosis while disordered eating refers to unusual eating patterns. Despite being unusual, these patterns do not meet the criteria for someone to be diagnosed with an eating disorder.
Someone with an eating disorder may do some of the things we associate with disordered eating, but not everyone affected by disordered eating will be diagnosed with an eating disorder.
Project aims
Our aim for this project is to explore the epidemiology of disordered eating among the diverse participants of the Born in Bradford Age of Wonder cohort study.
Epidemiology is a science that studies the distribution, patterns, and nature of health and disease in a population. A cohort study follows a group of people over time.
Born in Bradford Age of Wonder is a seven-year project working with teenagers in Bradford to capture their experiences from adolescence into adulthood. Researchers in Bradford are working in partnership with secondary schools and young people to create a picture of what it’s like to grow up in Bradford.
What we hope to achieve
We want to generate and test theories that help us understand what might be influencing how disordered eating develops over time (whether it gets worse or improves).
We will use our findings to inform future prevention and treatment efforts.