Gender network analysis of the Eating Disorder Examination-Questionnaire (EDE-Q7) in Peruvian adults

Background: network assessment of eating disorder (ED)-related symptomatology from a gender perspective is an important topic of study; however, there is limited research in the Latin American context. Objective: this study aimed to explore the patterns of association of the components of the Eating Disorder Examination-Questionnaire (EDE-Q7) according to gender, using two simultaneous network models in 890 Peruvian adults (63.51 % were women; mean age: 26.40). Methods: two graphs considering the gender factor were made using the R package qgrap and the merged LASSO graph. Results: higher network centrality measures were obtained for items related to body image dissatisfaction and overvaluation in women; while in the men’s network, the items of food restriction and overestimation of weight were the most central symptoms. Conclusion: both network models were invariant and showed no significant differences in both structure and connections.