Eating disorders risk and body shape concerns among medical students in Jordan: a cross-sectional study

Eating disorders are serious, multi-systemic and chronic disturbances in eating behavior among young people. Body image dissatisfaction is a known risk for developing eating disorders; therefore, this study aims to explore the proportion of participants screening-positive for elevated eating disorder risk among medical students in Jordan and their relationship with associated factors including body shape concerns.

A cross-sectional study that used an online survey to collect the data for 402 undergraduate medical students (117 males; 285 females) from six public universities in Jordan. The surveying tool included a sociodemographic section, Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26), and Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ-16B). IBM SPSS Statistics (version 27) was used for descriptive statistics, multivariate analysis and logistic regression to identify the factors associated with the increased risk of eating disorders.

Female students had higher mean EAT-26 scores compared to males (p = 0.03), while BSQ-16B scores did not differ by gender. BMI was significantly associated with both eating attitudes and body shape concerns, with obese participants demonstrating higher EAT-26 scores than those with normal BMI (p = 0.029) and a graded increase in BSQ-16B scores across the BMI categories (all p < 0.001). Students living alone reported higher BSQ-16B scores compared to those living with their families (p = 0.029). Participants with a history of psychiatric illness, use of diet pills or laxatives, or recent weight loss greater than 10 kg had significantly higher EAT-26 and BSQ-16B scores (all p ≤ 0.047). Females were more likely to fall into the high-risk group compared to males (36.1% vs. 29.9%, p = 0.03).

This study revealed that a considerable proportion of medical students in Jordan were screening-positive for elevated eating disorder risk. The strongest associated factors were female gender, higher BMI, rapid weight loss, use of diet pills or laxatives, and a history of psychiatric illness, with a strong correlation observed between eating-disorder risk and body shape concerns. These findings highlight the need for further research and targeted preventive strategies to support the mental and physical wellness of medical students.