The authors review research on risk factors for eating disorders, restricting their focus to studies in which clear precedence of the hypothesized risk factor over onset of the disorder is established. They illustrate how studies of sociocultural risk factors and biological factors have progressed on parallel tracks and propose that major advances in understanding the etiology of eating disorders require a new generation of studies that integrate these domains. They discuss how more sophisticated and novel conceptualizations of risk and causal processes may inform both nosology and intervention efforts.