Bulimia: Prevalence Estimates in Female Junior High and High School Students

Abstract

Examined the prevalence of bulimia in female junior high and high school students residing in an agricultural community within a large, rural catchment area. We conducted follow-up interviews with subgroups of clinical and control participants screened for bulimia by self-report measures. Corroborating interview data showed that the overall prevalence of bulimia was greater than 1.7%. Sole reliance on established cutoff scores from the Bulimia Test suggests estimates of about 2 % for female junior high school students and 4% for female high school students. Although bulimia appears to be somewhat more common in high school, few differences between female junior high and high school students were found in the prevalence of extreme dieting behaviors (e.g., self-induced vomiting).