title: Disordered eating attitudes, alexithymia and suicide probability among Turkish high school girls.
abstract: We aimed to examine association between disordered eating attitudes (DEAs), alexithymia and suicide probability among adolescent females and to explore potential link between alexithymia and suicide probability in subjects with DEAs. 381 female students completed Eating Attitude Test (EAT-26), Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) and Suicide Probability Scale (SPS). It was found that 13.2% (n=52) of the subjects have DEAs. Results indicated that total TAS-20 score and scores of Difficulty in Identifying Feelings (DIF) and Difficulty in Describing Feelings (DDF) subscales were significantly higher in DEAs group than in those non DEAs group (p<0.05). Additionally, total SPS score (p<0.001), Hopelessness (p=0.001), Suicide Ideation (p<0.001) and Hostility (p=0.003) subscales scores of SPS were significantly higher in the alexithymic DEAs than the non-alexithymic DEAs group. In order to control potential effect of depression, SPS subscales were used as covariate factors in ANCOVA. Negative Self-Evaluation subscale yielded a statistically significant difference between groups, other subscales did not. Results point out these; DEAs are relatively frequent phenomenon among female students in Turkey and presence of alexithymia was associated with an increased suicide probability in adolescents with DEAs. The results should be evaluated taking into account that depressive symptomatology was not assessed using a depression scale.
authors.affiliation: Afyon Kocatepe University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Afyonkarahisar, Turkey. Electronic address: ahmethamdialpaslan@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Ahmet Hamdi
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Alpaslan
authors.affiliation: Inonu University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Malatya, Turkey.
authors.forename: Nusret
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Soylu
authors.affiliation: Afyon Kocatepe University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Public Health, Afyonkarahisar, Turkey.
authors.forename: Kadriye
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Avci
authors.affiliation: Afyon Kocatepe University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, Afyonkarahisar, Turkey.
authors.forename: Kerem Şenol
authors.initials: KŞ
authors.lastname: Coşkun
authors.affiliation: Afyon Kocatepe University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Forensic Medicine, Afyonkarahisar, Turkey.
authors.forename: Uğur
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Kocak
authors.affiliation: Afyon Kocatepe University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Public Health, Afyonkarahisar, Turkey.
authors.forename: Hanife Uzel
authors.initials: HU
authors.lastname: Taş
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000342:Affective Symptoms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D001290:Attitude; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D003866:Depressive Disorder; D059026:Diagnostic Self Evaluation; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011336:Probability; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012574:Schools; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D059020:Suicidal Ideation; D014421:Turkey
keywords: Adolescent; Alexithymia; Disordered eating attitudes; Suicide probability