Henderson M, Bould H, Flouri E, et al. - Researchers sought to determine the correlation between emotion dysregulation in childhood and the risk of broad anorexia nervosa in adolescents.

• A cohort study including 15,896 children with complete exposure data in the Millennium Cohort Study, a UK general population birth cohort.

• There appeared no increased risk of broad anorexia nervosa in correlation with poor emotion regulation skills at 3 years of age.

• However, increased risk in this disorder was evident in correlation with lack of improvement in emotion regulation skills across childhood.

• Overall findings suggest that risk for broad anorexia nervosa is possibly higher in individuals who fail to meet key emotional developmental milestones from 3 to 7 years of age.

• Providing support with developing emotion regulation skills across childhood may possibly be beneficial in preventing anorexia nervosa.