Abstract
Disordered eating and eating disorders are of great concern due to their associations with physical and mental health risks. Even if adolescence has been identified as the most vulnerable time for developing disordered eating, few studies have used a broad spectrum of criteria to investigate the prevalence of disordered eating among high school students of both genders, in different programs of study, nor assessed correlates of disordered eating among this important target group. The purposes of this study were therefore to investigate the prevalence and correlates of disordered eating among both male and female high school students in sport-, general and vocational programs. A comprehensive questionnaire was completed by 2,451 students (98.7%), aged 15–17 years. The total prevalence of disordered eating was 54.9%, with 64.3% among girls and 45.0% among boys (p<0.001). The highest prevalence of disordered eating was found among vocational students (60.7%), followed by students in general programs (49.8%) and sport students (38.3%) (p<0.001). Female gender, school program (vocational and general), overweight/obesity and weight regulation were positively associated with disordered eating. The high prevalence indicates the importance of tailored prevention efforts directed at high school students, particularly in vocational programs. Furthermore, a smaller girls–boys ratio than expected indicates that the efforts to identify and manage disordered eating among high school students should include both genders.
Highlights
Disordered eating (DE) behaviors may include a preoccupation with body weight and shape, food restriction, dieting, binge eating, vomiting, and abuse of diuretics, laxatives and diet pills, which may serve on a continuum preceding clinical eating disorders (EDs) [1, 2]
As a result of the biological changes, peer pressure, societal drive for thinness and a body image preoccupation that occurs during puberty, adolescence is pointed out as the most vulnerable time for developing DE [3, 4], and it is suggested that adolescents account for 40% of new cases of EDs [5]
Compared to students in the sport programs, the results show a higher odds for DE among the students in vocational programs (OR: 2.8, 95% confidence intervals (CI): 1.8–4.4) (p
Summary
Disordered eating (DE) behaviors may include a preoccupation with body weight and shape, food restriction, dieting, binge eating, vomiting, and abuse of diuretics, laxatives and diet pills, which may serve on a continuum preceding clinical eating disorders (EDs) [1, 2]. Previous studies indicate a wide gender gap in terms of EDs, with a high female:male ratio in general (9:1 or 10:1) [6, 7]) This ratio seems to be smaller among the highrisk group of adolescents, varying from 3:1 to 10:1 [8,9,10]. When it comes to DE behaviors which typically precede clinical EDs, girls seem to outnumber boys to an even lesser extent [11, 12], but few studies have addressed this among adolescents
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