Partial syndromes in eating disorders: a prevalence study on a sample of Italian adolescents

Exploring the spectrum of eating disorders (ED) and its sociodemographic correlates in a population of adolescents.

The sample included 788 adolescent students (384 females and 404 males, 12-14 years old) from Verona, Northern Italy. A two-stage sampling procedure was adopted. Eating Disorder Inventory-2 (EDI-2), Body Image Satisfaction Questionnaire (BISQ) and a socio-demographic questionnaire were applied to the sample in the first stage. The sample was then partitioned in two strata, "below-cutoff" and "above-cutoff", using the threshold DT > or = 14 for the Drive for Thinness (DT) subscale. A second sample of 59+58 subjects was selected from the two strata. The structural interview of the second stage consisted of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders and the Symptom Checklist of EDI-2.

Partial syndromes of ED were diagnosed in 9.4% of the interviewed sample with a sex ratio F/M=6. The following factors resulted to be related to partial syndrome of ED: dieting to be thin, body mass index, mother's occupation and being a menstruating girl.

This study represents one of the few prevalence and association studies about ED in young Italian adolescents. It evidences that partial syndromes of ED, in particular the partial syndrome of binge eating disorder, are the most frequent syndromes in early adolescence. Some social and parental factors resulted to be significantly related to these syndromes.