Weight-related peer teasing is a strong predictor of disordered eating behaviors in adolescents, particularly those at higher genetic risk, new research shows.
Focusing on teenagers, the Flinders University study found that specific environmental factors including peer pressure and conflict with parents can increase the risk of sometimes dangerous disordered eating behaviors—particularly among those with higher genetic risk.
“This study demonstrates that genetic risk for anorexia nervosa exerts a stronger influence on disordered eating behaviors in adolescent girls when combined with adverse parental and peer relationships.
“These social factors—including parental expectations, criticism, and care, as well as weight-related peer teasing—are pivotal in shaping vulnerability to disordered eating,” says Professor Sarah Cohen-Woods, senior author of the article published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.
“It appears that modifiable factors, such as positive peer relationships, and parental behavior and relationships with their children, may be leveraged to reduce the impact of increased genetic risk for disordered eating behaviors.”
Preventative efforts should target environmental influences such as weight-related peer teasing, and parental interactions and relationships with their children, particularly in those that are genetically at risk.
“For example, high parental expectations or criticism may increase genetic risk for self-induced vomiting and avoidance of eating.
“Weight-related peer teasing was found to increase the influence of genetic factors on disordered eating behaviors, such as objective bulimic episodes.”
The study of 383 Australian teenage twin girls aged between 14 and 19 collected responses to capturing their self-reported experiences of parental expectations, parental criticism, parental care, weight-related peer teasing and parental conflict.
Professor Cohen-Woods, from the Flinders University Institute for Mental Health and Wellbeing, says research into the complex interplay between genetic predisposition and environmental factors can in the long term inform and improve clinical and non-clinical solutions to eating disorders.
“The research into anorexia nervosa polygenic risk scores in context with other known environmental risk factors highlights that a person’s genetic risk is not an isolated factor but can be significantly influenced by their social and family environment.”
The research, led by the Blackbird Initiative at the Flinders Institute for Mental Health and Wellbeing, bridges a gap between psychosocial research and molecular genetics, demonstrating a gene-environment interaction using polygenic risk scores and existing parental and peer teasing data.
Researchers, however, say future research is needed with larger cohorts and a broader range of environmental measures to further investigate these complex relationships to guide support and prevention efforts for young people, benefiting everyday families and communities in the future.
More information:
Madeleine Curtis et al, Predicting adolescent disordered eating and behaviours: exploring environmental moderators of polygenic risk, Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry (2025). DOI: 10.1111/jcpp.70012
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