Abstract
In this study, we describe a hierarchical dimensional model of eating-disorder (ED) classification based on the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology. Participants were community-recruited adults with an ED (N = 252; 81.9% female). We used a modified version of Goldberg’s method, which involved sequentially extracting latent factors using exploratory structural equation modeling, resulting in a 10-factor hierarchical-dimensional model. Dimensions predicted 92.4% and 58.7% of the variance in recovery outcomes at 6 months and 1 year, respectively. Compared with other illness indicators (e.g., Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders [DSM] diagnoses, dimensional ED impairment scores, weight/shape overvaluation, and DSM ED-severity specifiers), hierarchical dimensions predicted 0.88 to 334 times more variance in ED behaviors at baseline and 1.95 to 80.8 times more variance in psychiatric impairment at 1-year follow-up. Results suggest that reducing within-disorder heterogeneity for EDs within the broader context of internalizing symptoms provides a powerful framework from which to predict outcomes and understand symptoms experienced by people with EDs.
Keywords
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
