Question 1
There were a few limitations that the researchers identified. It was stated that the study utilized mostly self-reported data that was not corroborated and that the youth sample was relatively young and may not have experienced common disordered eating patterns that are more prevalent at an older age. How do you think these limitations impacted the results of the study? What are some changes to the methodology that may address these issues?
posted by Rose M @ 7:24 PM
17 comments
17 Comments:
I believe the limitations mentioned above would be difficult to avoid. As long as the researchers are drawing conclusions for the age groups used in this study, this shouldn't impact the results. The only way to alter the methodology would be to broaden the age group included in the study. I believe it would be difficult to gather information that was not self-reported. This would involve more time and resources that would probably result in similar results.
I do not think that the age of the participants would have impacted the results of the study by very much. Research has shown that eating disorders are becoming even more prevalent now compared to a few decades ago and eating disorders are being seen in children as young as 7 years old. Self-reported feelings and eating habits is a reasonable method for measuring these children especially since it was a longitudinal study. It would have required a lot of work to include observations of the children over the time frame of the study to examine eating attitudes and behaviors, so I do not think that there would have been a more efficient method to use.
Unfortunately I think these limitations are impossible to avoid. Research of this scale requires relying on self-reported data, which can be inaccurate. As far as the age group, I don't believe that it is necessarily a limitation. Just because disordered eating patterns are more common among older children does not negate studying a younger population. It would be interesting to compare two age groups.
Melanie, I know your thesis involves eating disorders, and I am sure you have found many gaps in the literature when researching. Clearly if your research has shown that full blown eating disorders can develop as early as 7, this population needs to be examined as well as older children.
I agree with Liz that this study would be difficult to avoid some of these limitations because self-reported data is the most logical method of collecting data with this population.
I want to first mention, that I think this study is a very relevant topic with all of the prevention of childhood obesity being spread across the country. Many people are engulfed in preventing childhood obesity that they do not think about the other extreme which is disordered eating patterns in children. So kudos to the researchers for being interested in this area of dietetics. To address the limitations the researchers encountered, I think that self-reported data was the right way to go. Like most studies in eating patterns/habits, self-reported data although not as reliable, is the most reasonable. Collecting data any other way would be much more time consuming and would require a lot more work to be done by the researchers. Not everyone has this kind of time or tools. As for the population studied, I think the younger age group is appropriate. However, I think the research would also benefit from using an older age group as well. This way they could examine disordered eating in a variety of children and compare and contrast their findings.
I definitely agree with Bethany that this is a great study and interesting area of dietetics. Also, I agree that self-reported is the most reasonable, even if it isn’t the most reliable, as time is always an issue when researching.
I believe that the limitations mentioned would be difficult to avoid. All age groups, young and old, will have life events that may impact their answers regarding disordered eating habits. Denial definitely plays a role. Parental influence may also affect a child's reponse.
Although it may prove very difficult, I think that in order for this study's results to be their most valid and reliable, the data that was self-reported should definitely be corroborated. A child could be carrying out disordered eating, but reporting healthy eating habits. Common disordered eating habits may be more prevalent in older adolescents, but I think it is important to prove/disprove that through studying younger and younger sample populations to identify the major contributing factors. Changing the methodology to use an older sample population, possibly 11-18 years old, would probably yield more significant results. Videotaping eating times would be costly, but is one of the only strategies I can think of to help validate and corroborate the self-reported data.
I don’t think the researchers could have done anything to change the age limitation unless they expanded the population to a larger age range or if they did additional studies using older youths. Though eating disorders may not be as common in younger children as opposed to teenagers and young adults, they are still present which means that it is important to examine and it seemed like this age group was the one the researchers were interested in studying. As for the self-reported data, I also think for this study that there really is not any way to work around using that kind of data. It may not be accurate especially with children being younger and the parents’ involvement, but unless all of their health habits were monitored by a researcher, there really is not any way around it.
I agree with you Sarah and Melanie, that this age group is important to study. If some children this young are obese and developing eating disorders, research should be done on what we can do to help prevent this. Bethany, you're right that this is a very relevant topic and I think more research needs to be done with this population.
Melanie,
I think your insight to this question is very interesting as I did not know that disordered eating is that prevalent in that young of a population. I think this statistic could have a lot to do with our nations emphasis on preventing child hood obesity. Children and parents now a days are being taught to be more worried about weight rather than the basic concept of eating for health, energy and nutrition. Don't get me wrong, I think it's great the efforts being made to ensure our children are moving towards healthier lifestyles, I just think that the emphasis needs to be adjusted away from "childhood obesity" and more towards healthy childhood lifestyles.
I believe that these limitations would be hard to avoid due to time and funding for the research. If they increased the age range it may increase the chances that the participants would be aware of disordered eating patterns and would report them more than the younger children
Making it a longer term study might have been interesting, or doing a follow-up study in a few years. However, studies are bound to have limitations. What's important is specifying what they are and avoiding the ones that are possible to avoid with your resources.
The age of the population is not a limitation for the study. It is important to evaluate all ages that experience disordered eating patterns. Disordered eating should not be overlooked for any age group. For many reasons, especially the rise in obesity rates among this population; this study is a good start for future research. Given the many possible factors that play a role in disordered eating, a self reporting method seems appropriate.
Sarah G., It would be very interesting to compare age groups. Maybe with time, more studies could reveal data for intervention based on a sequence of common lifestyle events as one ages.
Meredith made a good point. A child could be carrying out disordered eating, but reporting healthy eating habits. While it may be time consuming and require alternative tools, much more difficult processes in research have been done. Disordered eating is a growing area in our field and I hope experts in this area can work to better corroborate the data.
Bethany, I agree with your overall point, that focus needs to be redirected to "healthy childhood lifestyles" vs "childhood obesity." I would venture to say that the majority of children today have poor eating, physical activity and overall lifestyle behaviors, but all do not exhibit obesity. It is our responsibility as future health professionals to help facilitate this shift.
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