Differences between Australian adolescents with eating disorder symptoms who are in treatment or not in treatment for an eating disorder

Abstract

Background: Mental health problems frequently occur during adolescence, however, few adolescents seek treatment for these problems, especially for eating disorders. The current study aimed to quantify how adolescents in a clinical sample (ie, those receiving treatment for an eating disorder), differ in terms of psychological factors (eating disorder symptoms and psychological distress), compared to adolescents with eating pathology in a community sample (ie, those not receiving treatment). Method: Data were used from a community sample of adolescents with eating disorder pathology who have not sought treatment (n = 1011) and a clinical sample of adolescents presenting at eating disorder serv..