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Eating disorders among adolescents: patterns and prevalence
Adolescence
|January 1, 1984
Summary
This study found that 2% of adolescents exhibit disordered eating behaviors. Dieting and uncontrollable eating emerged as distinct patterns, both linked to feelings of failure and psychosocial constraint.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Adolescent Health
- Eating Disorders
Background:
- Disordered eating behaviors are a growing concern among adolescents.
- Understanding the prevalence and patterns of these behaviors is crucial for intervention.
- Psychosocial factors may influence the development and maintenance of disordered eating.
Purpose of the Study:
- To estimate the prevalence of disordered eating habits in adolescents.
- To examine the relationship between bingeing-dieting cycles and psychosocial constraint.
- To identify distinct behavioral patterns within disordered eating.
Main Methods:
- A 71-item questionnaire was administered to 2,004 high school students.
- Disordered eating was defined to include bingeing, restrictive dieting, emotional eating, and purging.
- Factor analysis was used to identify behavioral constellations.
Main Results:
- A distinct syndrome of disordered eating was identified in 2% of subjects.
- Emotional eating was prevalent in 7% of subjects (11% of females).
- Individual behaviors varied: bingeing (20%), purging (5%), feeling out of control (27%).
- Bingeing-dieting cycles were not a major pattern; dieting and uncontrollable eating were separate.
- Dieting correlated with regulation and constraint; both dieting and compulsive eating related to failure.
Conclusions:
- Disordered eating is present in a small but significant percentage of adolescents.
- Dieting and uncontrollable eating represent distinct behavioral patterns, not a unified binge-purge cycle.
- Both dieting and compulsive eating are associated with negative psychosocial experiences, including feelings of failure.