Eating disorder attitudes and psychopathology in Caucasian Australian, Asian Australian and Thai university students.
OBJECTIVE
To examine eating disorder attitudes and psychopathology among female university students in Australia and Thailand.


METHODS
Participants were 110 Caucasian Australians, 130 Asian Australians and 101 Thais in Thailand. The instruments included the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT) and the Eating Disorders Inventory (EDI).


RESULTS
Eating disorder attitudes and psychopathology scores in the Thai group were found to be highest. The Asian Australian group did not have significantly higher scores on the EAT-26 than the Caucasian Australian group, but had higher scores in some subscales of the EDI-2. That the Thai group had the highest scores in susceptibility to developing an eating disorder and eating disorder psychopathology may be partially explained in sociocultural terms, with pressure to be thin more extreme in Thailand than in Australia. The evidence suggested that unhealthy eating disorder psychopathology is not limited to Western societies but is already present in Thai and other Asian societies.
School of Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, Princess Margaret Hospital for Children, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia. pjenning@cyllene.uwa.edu.au
Piangchai S
PS
Jennings
David
D
Forbes
Brett
B
McDermott
Gary
G
Hulse
Sato
S
Juniper
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D044466:Asian People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D001294:Attitude to Health / Q000208:ethnology*; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D015992:Body Mass Index; D003710:Demography; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013785:Thailand / Q000208:ethnology; D044465:White People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*