Friends' influence on Adolescents' loss of control eating: The moderating role of self-esteem, fear of negative evaluation, and body dissatisfaction

Abstract

Friends' influence may importantly contribute to the development of adolescent disordered eating behaviors. However, little is known about the influence of friends on loss of control eating. This study investigated whether friend-reported loss of control eating was associated with changes in adolescents' own loss of control eating 1 year later and tested whether adolescents with lower self-esteem, higher fear of negative evaluation, and higher body dissatisfaction were more susceptible to friends' influence. Sex differences in these associations were also examined. Participants were 612 adolescents (50.0% female; M_{T1 Age} = 13.50 years, SD_{T1 Age} = 1.01) who were recruited from a school in the Netherlands with predominantly native Dutch students and participated in an ongoing longitudinal research project between 2019 and 2021. Results indicated that adolescents and their friends reported similar levels of loss of control eating but provided no support for friends' influence on loss of control eating, nor for differential susceptibility. The modest degree of similarity between adolescents' and their friends' loss of control eating and the lack of friends' influence on loss of control eating may be due to homophilic selection effects or the restrictions involving the COVID-19 pandemic, so replication of the results is warranted.