Social and Psychological Factors Related to Risk of Eating Disorders Among High School Girls

Abstract

Prevalence of eating disorders (EDs) has increased among adolescents in Arabic and Western countries. The purposes are to identify the risk of ED and psychosocial correlates of risk of ED among high school girls in Jordan. The researchers employed a cross-sectional, correlational design using 799 high school girls from governmental and private schools in the central region of Jordan. The results indicate that prevalence of the risk of ED was 12%. The risk of ED had significant and positive correlation with body shape dissatisfaction, self-esteem, psychological distress, and pressure from family, peers, and media ( p < .001). Body shape dissatisfaction, low self-esteem, negative peer pressure, and being young were significant predictors of the risk of EDs. Risk of ED is highly prevalent among high school girls, and school nurses need to adopt a model of care addressing the risk factors while caring for high school girls.

Risk Behavior for Bulimia Among Adolescents

“…This same finding was observed in another Brazilian study: 8 attending a private school appeared to be a condition that increases the risk of abnormal eating behaviors (p-value<0.001). However, this finding differs from Jordanian researchers, 23 who observed no association between the type of school and risk behaviors for eating disorders (p-value>0.05). A Brazilian study developed by Hermont et al 15 did not verify this association neither, but it found proportionally more cases of risk behavior among students from private schools compared to those from public schools.…”

“…Evidence points to an increasingly wide distribution of eating disorders worldwide 22 . Being female and adolescent do trigger eating disturbances and risk of eating disorders 23 . Our results show that almost half of the studied adolescents was at risk for bulimia, which is considered high.…”

“…According to American researchers, 27 peer pressure to conform to cultural ideals has been consistently identified as an important factor associated with the development of eating disorders, especially among adolescents. Adolescent girls are subject to a number of physical, psychological, and social changes that, if not managed well, have negative impacts on their self-esteem, body shape satisfaction, and psychological well-being 23 …”

Exploration of Eating Disorders, Nutritional and Health Status Based on Eating Attitude Test-26 amongst University Adolescent Girls

“…Prevalence of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa have increased among adolescents in Arabic, Western [7] and now a clinical problem in Asian countries like Pakistan, India and Bangladesh etc. Nearly 50% of adolescents had the chance to become overweight during the transition to adulthood [8].…”

“…Nearly 50% of adolescents had the chance to become overweight during the transition to adulthood [8]. Anorexia nervosa is an increasingly common eating disorder in adolescent girls, in Western societies [9], and is the third most common chronic disease in adolescent girls, that's why the risk of disordered eating attitudes is highly prevalent among adolescent girls [7].…”