Laraia BA, Leung CW, Tomiyama AJ, et al. - According to findings, there could be long-term impacts of drive for thinness during the critical developmental years on adulthood eating behaviors tied to greater weight gain, potentially indicating a crucial early target of intervention.

• Participants were recruited from a prospective cohort study (n=623 women; assessed starting at 10 years old up to 20 years later); drive for thinness was recorded five times during adolescence, and drive for thinness, reward-based eating drive, and BMI were assessed in adulthood (mean age = 39.5).

• Higher scores for both adult drive for thinness and reward-based eating drive were shown to be predicted by cumulative adolescent drive for thinness, on structural equation modeling.

• There was no direct link between youth drive for thinness and adult BMI; however, an indirect association through adult drive for thinness was revealed.

• No association was found between reward-based eating drive and adult BMI.