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Background The Lebanese population has undergone several conflicts and were the most afflicted by shelling and chaos during the civil war from 1975 to 1990, or even by displacement, bereavement, emigration, family separations, not to mention the economic crises that have hit the country since 2019 under which young adults are still succumbing. Our study aims to validate the Lebanese Anxiety Scale and assess correlates of anxiety among Lebanese adolescents. Methods A cross-sectional study was carried between January and May 2019, using a proportionate random sampling of schools from all five Lebanese governorates, among which 1810 adolescents aged 14 to 17 years. Results All LAS items remained in the model and formed one factor solution that explained 61.38% of the total variance (KMO = 0.873; pBartlett test < 0.001), with an excellent Cronbach’s alpha of 0.93. Higher neglect (B = 0.38), insomnia (B = 0.21) and child psychological abuse (B = 0.08) were significantly associated with more anxiety. Those results were considered adjusted overall sociodemographic variables since the latter had no statistically significant association with anxiety. Conclusion The study confirmed the association between anxiety and some variables such as psychological child abuse, neglect, and insomnia and emphasized the correlation between anxiety and these factors. Further, the LAS appears to be a short, valid and efficient tool for assessing anxiety among Lebanese adolescents. Further studies need to be carried to evaluate whether the LAS-10 gives a similar diagnosis to psychiatrists.

Drunorexia refers to food calorie intake restriction to prevent weight gain and the desire to enhance the more extensive intoxicating effects of alcohol. The present study aimed to investigate the association of drunkorexia with emotion regulation as well as emotion regulation difficulties across the Lebanese population, and assess disordered eating attitudes as a potential mediator of these relationships. The cross-sectional study enrolled participants (n = 258) from all Lebanese districts. The study was performed through an online survey based on a self-designed and structured questionnaire. The Drunkorexia Motives and Behaviors Scales (DMBS), the College Life Alcohol Salience Scale (CLASS), the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS-16), the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) and the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26) were used in the present study. The results showed that higher EAT-26 total scores (more disordered eating attitudes) (B = 0.16) and higher DERS-16 total score (B = 0.30) were significantly associated with more drunkorexia motives. Also, higher EAT-26 total scores (B = 0.09) and higher DERS-16 total score (B = 0.17) were significantly associated with more drunkorexia behaviors. In addition, higher EAT-26 total scores (B = 0.10) and higher DERS-26 total score (B = 0.36) were significantly associated with more drunkorexia fails. Furthermore, higher EAT-26 total scores (B = 0.07), and higher DERS-16 total score (B = 0.37) were significantly associated with more drunkorexia during an alcohol consumption event. Higher EAT-26 total scores (B = 0.09), and higher DERS-16 total score (B = 0.22) were significantly associated with more post-drinking compensation. Higher EAT-26 total scores (B = 0.21), higher DERS-16 total scores (B = 0.65) and higher emotion regulation (B = 0.33) were significantly associated with higher CLASS scores. The results showed that EAT-26 total scores partially mediated the association between DERS-16 total score and drunkorexia motives (25.20%), between DERS-16 total score and drunkorexia behaviors (25.16%), between DERS-16 total score and drunkorexia fails (106.87%), between DERS-16 total score and drunkorexia during an alcohol consumption event (11.84%), between DERS-16 total score and post-drinking compensation (22.55%), between ERQ total score and college life alcohol salience (8.35%) and between DERS-16 total score and college life alcohol salience (20.14%). This study highlighted that only emotional regulation difficulties were associated with drunkorexia, whereas emotional regulation was not significantly associated with such behavior.

Background Although metacognition processes are a core feature of restrictive eating and alcohol cravings and entail an individual to control both of his/her emotions and thoughts, yet, to our knowledge, a scarcity of research has examined their potential role in drunkorexia as cognitive and emotional predictors. The following study investigates the different associations between two emotion regulation strategies (i.e. emotional suppression and cognitive reappraisal) and drunkorexia behaviors in a sample of Lebanese adults, exploring the possible indirect effects of positive and negative alcohol-related metacognitions. Methods This was a cross-sectional study that enrolled 335 participants (March-July 2021). Results Higher problematic alcohol use (beta = 5.56), higher physical activity index (beta = 0.08), higher expressive suppression (beta = 0.23), higher negative metacognitive beliefs about cognitive harm due to drinking (beta = 0.75) and higher cognitive reappraisal (beta = 0.20) were significantly associated with more drunkorexic behaviors. The positive metacognitive beliefs about cognitive self-regulation significantly mediated the association between cognitive reappraisal and drunkorexia behaviors. Both the positive metacognitive beliefs about cognitive self-regulation and the negative metacognitive beliefs about the uncontrollability of drinking significantly mediated the association between expressive suppression and drunkorexia behaviors. Conclusion This study demonstrated that emotional and metacognitive processes are associated with drunkorexia, addressing as well the mediating effect between deficient emotional regulation and risky behavioral patterns. Overall, our results would speculate that the lack of emotional and cognitive assets might enhance internal distress perceived out of control, leading individuals to indulge in maladaptive behavioral patterns for managing the underlying impairment.