Examining posttraumatic cognitions as a pathway linking trauma exposure and eating disorder symptoms in veteran men and women: A replication and extension study.

Serier KN, Livingston WS, Zelkowitz RL, Kehle-Forbes S, Smith BN, Mitchell KS. Examining posttraumatic cognitions as a pathway linking trauma exposure and eating disorder symptoms in veteran men and women: A replication and extension study. Eating disorders. 2024 Sep 15; 1-16.

Dimensions for VA is a web-based tool available to VA staff that enables detailed searches of published research and research projects.

If you have VA-Intranet access, click here for more information vaww.hsrd.research.va.gov/dimensions/

VA staff not currently on the VA network can access Dimensions by registering for an account using their VA email address.    Search Dimensions for VA for this citation
* Don't have VA-internal network access or a VA email address? Try searching the free-to-the-public version of Dimensions

Search for Abstract from PubMed

---

Abstract:

Trauma is a risk factor for eating disorders (EDs). Enhanced understanding of the pathways from trauma to EDs could identify important treatment targets. Guided by theory, the present study sought to replicate previous findings identifying posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and shape/weight overvaluation as important pathways between trauma and ED symptoms and extend this work by investigating the role of posttraumatic cognitions in these associations. The sample included 825 female and 565 male post-9/11 veterans who completed cross-sectional survey measures of trauma, posttraumatic cognitions, PTSD symptoms, shape/weight overvaluation, and ED symptoms. Gender-stratified structural equation models were used to examine direct and indirect pathways from trauma exposure to EDs via PTSD symptoms and shape/weight overvaluation (replication) and posttraumatic cognitions (extension). Results suggested that trauma exposure was indirectly associated with ED symptoms via shape/weight overvaluation and posttraumatic cognitions. There was no indirect association between trauma exposure and ED symptoms via PTSD symptoms. Overall, findings from this study highlight the potential role of posttraumatic cognitions in understanding the association between trauma and ED symptoms. However, future longitudinal research is needed to verify the directionality of these associations and investigate cognitions as a potentially targetable risk mechanism in co-occurring trauma and EDs.