Network stability over a period of 12 to 24 months in eating disorders

To date, little data exist about the stability of networks, which is an important limitation given the interest in applying network approaches for evaluating and informing treatment and intervention. Thus, the aim of the present study was to examine the stability of the eating disorder symptom network in a clinical eating disorder sample across two timepoints, on average 18 months apart. The sample included 99 eating disorder patients from a transdiagnostic sample. Findings from network analyses revealed that the networks exhibited both structural and global strength invariance over time. These findings suggest that in this clinical transdiagnostic sample, some support for differences over time in the network structure and strength at the group level existed despite null formal invariance tests. These findings are consistent with the change in clinical presentations within the sample.