From childhood to adolescence: Development of binge eating and the prospective role of self-regulation

TL;DR

This study tracks how binge eating changes from childhood to adolescence and finds that self-regulation skills like planning and impulse control help prevent it.

Contribution

The study provides longitudinal evidence on the development of binge eating and identifies specific self-regulation skills as predictors.

Findings

Binge eating decreases in middle childhood, stabilizes, and increases during adolescence.

Better planning, inhibitory control, and cognitive flexibility reduce binge eating in middle childhood.

Higher satiety responsiveness is linked to increased binge eating during adolescence.

Abstract

Research shows that binge eating often starts in childhood or adolescence, but its development remains largely unexplored. Additionally, while cross-sectional studies link self-regulation to binge eating, longitudinal research is lacking. Therefore, this study examined the development of binge eating and self-regulation as a potential predictor for this development in a community sample.

A total of N = 1660 children were assessed at four time points spanning ages 6–11, 7–11, 9–13, and 16–21. The assessment of self-regulation encompassed emotional reactivity, working memory updating, cognitive flexibility, inhibition, inhibitory control, planning behavior, affective decision-making, anger regulation, and as appetite self-regulation, satiety responsiveness, emotional overeating, food responsiveness, and external eating, using computerized tasks, teacher- and parent-reports. Binge eating was modeled by child-reported loss of control eating, overeating, and eating in the absence of hunger. A latent change score model was used to evaluate intra- and interindividual differences in binge eating across middle childhood and adolescence. Self-regulation facets were regressed on changes in binge eating.

Results indicated a decrease in binge eating at the beginning of middle childhood, followed by a stagnation and then an increase during adolescence, with significant interindividual differences in these changes. Higher planning behavior, inhibitory control, and cognitive flexibility predicted decreases in binge eating during middle childhood, while higher satiety responsiveness unexpectedly predicted an increase in binge eating during adolescence. Results remained the same after controlling for body weight.

Our findings highlight adolescence as a critical period for binge eating prevention, with planning behavior, inhibitory control, and cognitive flexibility acting as protective factors in middle childhood. The longitudinal data underscore the importance of self-regulation in the development of binge eating.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40337-025-01330-x.

Binge eating refers to eating large amounts of food while feeling unable to stop. Research shows it can start in childhood, but we still do not fully understand how it develops over time and what influences this process. One important factor might be self-regulation– the ability to manage emotions, thoughts and behavior. In this study 1660 children were followed at four time points from middle childhood to adolescence. Different self-regulation skills were measured with tasks, parent and teacher reports. Binge eating was assessed through child reports. Results indicated that binge eating first decreased in middle childhood, stayed stable for a while, and then increased during adolescence. However, these changes were different for each child. Children with better planning skills, more flexible thinking and a better ability to hold back automatic reactions were less likely to develop binge eating. Surprisingly, children who were more sensitive to feeling full were more likely to binge eat during adolescence. This study shows that good self-regulation skills may protect children from developing binge eating.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40337-025-01330-x.

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