Abnormal eating attitudes in London schoolgirls — a prospective epidemiological study: factors associated with abnormal response on screening questionnaires

Abstract

SynopsisOne thousand and ten unselected London state schoolgirls were screened by questionnaire to identify an ‘at risk’ cohort displaying abnormal eating attitudes and two control cohorts, one with probable general psychiatric morbidity, one without. Members of all cohorts were assessed at interview for the presence of eating disorder and for putative risk factors implicated in the development of anorexia nervosa. A prevalence rate of 0·99 % was detected for clinical eating disorder and 1·78 % for the partial syndrome of eating disorder. Factors specifically associated with abnormal eating attitudes were identified, in particular, current or past overweight, history of amenorrhoea and perceived stress in school and social life. Some commonly accepted risk factors for eating disorders were discovered to be associations with general psychiatric morbidity. These were perceived parental pressure to eat more, taking exercise to lose weight, perceived stress at home and reporting a family history of anxiety or depression. Other well reported putative risk factors for eating disorder, including social class, birth order, age at menarche, obsessional personality and weight related career choice were not associated specifically with abnormal eating attitudes in schoolgirls. These findings represent cross-sectional data at entry into a prospective epidemiological study.

Eating problems in female Japanese high school students: A prevalence study

“…The prevalence of eating problems among female adolescents based on EAT scores has been reported to vary from 5% to 22% in adolescent female populations in Europe and North America (Button & Whitehouse, 1981;Mann et al, 1983;Cooper, Waterman, & Fairburn, 1984;Lichener, Arnett, Rallo, Srikameswaran, & Vulcano, 1986;Johnson-Sabine, Wood, Patton, Mann, & Wakeling, 1988;Lachenmeyer & Muni-Brander, 1988;Whitaker et al, 1989;Patton, Johnson-Sabine, Wood, Mann, & Wakeling, 1990;Wichstrøm, 1995;Dancyger & Garfinkel, 1995). Nasser (1986) reported prevalence rates of 22% and 12%, respectively, among Arab students living in London and Cairo.…”

Evaluation of a computer-mediated eating disorder intervention program

“…Individuals with these concerns and behaviors have been found to be at risk of developing an eating disorder (Allgood-Merton, Lewinsohn, & Hops, 1990;Brooks-Gunn, 1988;Herzog, Hopkins, & Burns, 1993;Johnson-Sabine, Wood, Patton, & Mann, 1988;Killen et al, 1994;Patton, Johnson-Sabine, Wood, Mann, & Wakeling, 1990;Rierdan, Koff, & Stubbs, 1988;Taylor et al, in press). …”

The Epidemic of Anorexia Nervosa: Myth or Reality?

“…The first published studies employing a two-stage survey on teenage girls had two common outcomes: 1) a reduction in the number in detected cases of AN, and 2) the frequent corroboration of partial AN syndrome, compared to studies using treatment-seeking samples. In fact, several surveys did not identify any anorexic participants from among the study participants (Jonhson-Sabine et al, 1988;Mann et al, 1983;Patton et al, 1990), as shown table 4 (see Appendix). Subsequent double-stage prevalence studies, with identification of false negatives, have shown higher prevalence rates.…”