What is a Causal Factor?

I was asked on a homework assignment what are the two main eating disorders and their causal effects. I know the answer to the first part is Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa. But, Is a Causal Factor a Cause that leads to one gaining these disorders? Or is it The Effects that they Cause?|||a causal factor is something that leads to, or causes, something else