Biopsychopathologic risk profile of adolescents with eating disorder symptoms.
The aim of this study is to determine whether there is a psychological and somatic pattern for adolescents with eating symptomatology. The Eating Attitudes Test (Garner & Garfinkel, 1979) and other psychological instruments to evaluate self-esteem (SEI, Battle, 1981), personality (EPQ-J, Eysenck & Eysenck, 1984), school abilities (AAT, Thurstone & Thurstone, 1986), anxiety (STAIC, Spielberger, 1973) and symptoms of depression (CDI, Kovacs, 1983) were used in a sample of 515 adolescents between 13 and 14 years of age. Prevalence of risky eating attitudes was 12.4% for the girls and 8.3% for the boys. In general, a low level of self-esteem and a high level of anxiety were the most important predictors of eating symtomatology, but there were differences between genders. Girls with eating symptomatology exhibited a profile with more psychopathological traits. Heavy and corpulent subjects, boys or girls, form a group with a high risk of eating disorder. This suggests that the conjunction of psychological and somatic factors at the beginning of adolescence can be a useful marker for early intervention.
Canals
J
J
Department of Psychology, University Rovira i Virgili Cta Valls, Tarragona, Spain.
Carbajo
G
G
Fernández
J
J
Martí-Henneberg
C
C
Domènech
E
E
D000293:Adolescent; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001007:Anxiety; D001827:Body Height; D001835:Body Weight; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003863:Depression; D016002:Discriminant Analysis; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012307:Risk Factors; D012494:Sampling Studies; D012649:Self Concept; D012737:Sex Factors; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology