PEDIATRICS Vol. 88 No. 5 November 1991, pp. 926-933
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow P3Rs: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when P3Rs are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow E-mail this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My File Cabinet
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Sandberg, D. E.
Right arrow Articles by Lifshitz, F.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Sandberg, D. E.
Right arrow Articles by Lifshitz, F.

Nutritional Dwarfing: Is It a Consequence of Disturbed Psychosocial Functioning?

David E. Sandberg PhD1, Melanie M. Smith MNS, RD2, Victor Fornari MD1, Marjorie Goldstein MPH3, and Fima Lifshitz MD2

1 The Departments of Psychiatry, Pediatrics, North Shore University Hospital-Cornell University Medical College, Manhasset, New York
2 The Department Pediatrics, North Shore University Hospital-Cornell University Medical College, Manhasset, New York
3 The Department Research, North Shore University Hospital-Cornell University Medical College, Manhasset, New York

Nutritional dwarfing refers to a condition in which maladaptive eating patterns play a primary role in poor linear growth and delayed pubertal development. The present controlled study assesses whether nutritionally dwarfed children and adolescents differ in their psychosocial adjustment from healthy children and adolescents of comparable height in ways that might account for their undernutrition. Children with nutritional dwarfing (n = 16) were compared by standardized questionnaires with a short-stature (ie, heights below the fifth percentile) control group composed of children and adolescents with constitutional growth delay and/or familial short stature (n = 31). Scores on a self-report screening questionnaire for eating disorders did not differentiate the groups. Moreover, the vast majority of nutritionally dwarfed patients expressed a desire to have a heavier physical appearance. Whereas the groups were generally similar in self-perceptions of domain-specific competencies and positive psychosocial adjustment, the parents of nutritionally dwarfed children reported that their children showed significantly fewer externalized behavior problems. These findings suggest the existence of an eating disturbance that compromises growth in childhood and/or adolescence which, unlike anorexia nervosa, is not associated with evidence of psychopathology.

Key Words: nutritional dwarfing • short stature • anorexia nervosa • eating disorders • failure to thrive

Submitted on July 9, 1990
Accepted on October 11, 1990