Dieting, dietary restraint, and binge eating disorder among overweight adolescents in Turkey

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship among dieting, dietary restraint, disinhibition, hunger, and binge eating among overweight adolescent girls. Participants were 743 overweight adolescent girls between 16 and 19 years of age. The mean BMI was 24.9 +/- 0.8 kg/m2 in the low-restraint group and 25.1 +/- 0.8 kg/m2 in the high-restraint group (p < 0.05).Twenty percent of participants in the low-restraint group and 72% of those in the high-restraint group followed weight management practices for losing weight. The mean total TFEQ score was 21.5 +/- 7.8 for chronic dieters and 25.5 +/- 8.7 for non-chronic dieters. Chronic dieter participants had significantly lower scores than non-chronic dieters (p < 0.05). Findings indicate that overweight adolescents (dieting 5-10 times or more than 10 times in the past year) reported higher disinhibition and hunger scores than others (no dieting in the past year). Also, adolescents with BED reported significantly higher scores of disinhibition and hunger than did adolescents with non-BED. Conversely, overweight adolescents with BED showed significantly higher cognitive restraint scores than did adolescents with non-BED. In sum, high scores on restraint, hunger, and disinhibition of overweight adolescent girls as measured by the TFEQ, are associated with low self-esteem, high social physique anxiety, and high trait anxiety.