Health behaviors and disordered eating in adolescents and young adults with spina bifida: results from a national survey

Abstract

Purpose: Youth with disabilities are at higher risk for obesity, disordered eating, and poor body image but are often excluded from research on these domains. The current study is the first to characterize health behaviors, body mass index, and disordered eating cognitions and behaviors in a national sample of adolescent and young adult males and females with spina bifida.

Methods: Participants were recruited nationally through the support of a national spina bifida-related organization to complete an anonymous survey assessing health behaviors and disordered eating.

Results: Participants were primarily Caucasian, had myelomeningocele, and were between 15–24 years of age. Body mass indices ranged from underweight to Class Three obesity. Health behaviors (e.g., healthy food consumption, physical activity) were often subthreshold compared to Centers for Disease Control recommendations made to the general public. Both male and female respondents endorsed higher purging and restricting behaviors than norms established with typically-developing college aged peers.

Conclusions: Findings revealed that there are few sex-based differences. Additionally, the need for thorough assessment of disordered eating behaviors in this population is warranted, including those with a lower body mass index who might be overlooked for assessment of unhealthy attempts to lose or maintain their weight.

Implications for rehabilitation

• Adolescents and young adults with spina bifida are often advised to lose weight without clear guidelines on how to do so, putting them at risk for disordered eating.

• Professionals should expect variable body mass indices in this population, with some health behaviors falling short of recommendations made for the general public by the Centers for Disease Control.

• Professionals should fully assess disordered eating behaviors in youth with disabilities, even when at a healthy weight.

Keywords:

• Spina bifida
• disordered eating
• body image
• health behaviors
• disability

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the Spina Bifida Association (SBA), without whom this research would not have been possible.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported in part by grants from the National Institute of Nursing Research and the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research [R01 NR016235], National Institute of Child Health and Human Development [R01 HD048629], and the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation [12-FY13-271]. This research was also supported by a Research Support Grant from Loyola University Chicago.