Eating disorders in Austrian men: an intracultural and crosscultural comparison study.
BACKGROUND
We compared 30 male university students with eating disorders and 30 male comparison subjects without eating disorders recruited by advertisement at Innsbruck University, Austria.


METHODS
Subjects were interviewed using instruments that we had previously used in a controlled study of college men with eating disorders in the United States.


RESULTS
The Austrian men with eating disorders differed sharply from Austrian comparison subjects, but closely resembled their American counterparts, on prevalence of personal and familial psychopathology, adverse family experiences, and scores on rating scales for eating disorder. Interestingly, dissatisfaction with body image was consistently greater among American subjects regardless of eating disorder status.


CONCLUSIONS
Our data suggest a weak association between eating disorders and homosexual or bisexual orientation in men and no consistent association between eating disorders and childhood sexual abuse.
Mangweth
B
B
Department of Psychiatry, University Hospitals of Innsbruck, Austria. Barbara.Mangweth@uibk.ac.at
Pope
H G
HG
Hudson
J I
JI
Olivardia
R
R
Kinzl
J
J
Biebl
W
W
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001317:Austria / Q000453:epidemiology; D002650:Child Abuse, Sexual / Q000523:psychology; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D005191:Family Characteristics; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology*; D018451:Homosexuality, Male / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D012307:Risk Factors; D012649:Self Concept