The relationship between psychological symptoms and frequency of eating disorders in adolescents

Abstract

Objective: Eating disorders are serious mental illnesses that are associated with significant physical complications. The objective of this study was to determine the frequency of disordered eating attitudes and their relationship to psychological symptoms among adolescent students. Methods: 338 high school students participated in this descriptive study. Data was collected using a self-administered questionnaire consisting of the Eating Attitude Test-26 (EAT˗26), the Duke Health Profile and a socio-demographic questionnaire. An EAT-26 score of 20 or higher was defined as the presence of disordered eating attitudes. Data were analyzed using the SPSS 16.0, through the use of both descriptive and analytical statistics. Results: The frequency of eating disorder attitudes was found to be 18.3% (7.1% among boys and 21.3% among girls). The results indicate that there are statistically significant associations between the risk of developing eating disorders and age, gender and mental health. Conclusion: Eating disorders are becoming more prevalent amongst adolescents, particularly among females. As eating disorder are strongly associated with adolescent mental health, intervention programmes should be implemented, with a focus on adolescent developmental challenges and issues for both sexes, particularly in school education syllabi.Key words: Eating disorders, frequency, adolescents, psychological symptoms

Keywords

• Yeme bozukluğu, prevalans, ergenler, psikopatolojik semptomlar