title: Eating pathology in medical students in Eastern Germany: comparison with general population and a sample at the time of the German reunification.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Medical students have been found to be vulnerable to mental health problems due to the high pressures of medical school. Countries developing into industrial nations tend to adopt Western beauty ideals which might increase eating disorder risk.
  
  
  METHODS
  This cross-sectional study compared eating (Eating Disorder Inventory 2 EDI-2) and general psychopathology (General Health Questionnaire-28) in medical students from the newly formed German states with a historical sample of East German medical students examined at the time of the German reunification. Current medical students were also compared to population-based samples assessed before the German Reunification as well as recently to consider time trends in EDI scores.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The current sample comprised 316 medical students (232 female) from the newly formed German states (mean age = 21.7 years, SD = 2.6). Significantly higher levels of drive for thinness as well as body dissatisfaction and higher levels of general psychopathology were displayed in female medical students 20 years after the German reunification. In male medical students, no significant changes of eating pathology were observable. However, male medical students expressed significantly more anxiety and insomnia and a higher GHQ-28 total score than their counterparts examined in 1989.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Twenty years after the Reunification, an acculturation to Western beauty ideals seems to be more pronounced in female than in male medical students. Still, as a group, medical students from the newly formed German states did not appear to display a particular risk to develop eating disorders. However, due to the low response rate, results of this study should be interpreted cautiously.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf and Schön Klinik Hamburg Eilbek, Martinistrasse 52, 20246, Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Angelika
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Weigel
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Psychology and Medical Sociology, University of Leipzig, Philipp-Rosenthal-Straße 55, 04103, Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Dirk
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hofmeister
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Helios Hanseklinikum Stralsund, Große Parower Straße 47-53, 18435, Stralsund, Germany.
authors.forename: Kristin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Pröbster
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Psychology and Medical Sociology, University of Leipzig, Philipp-Rosenthal-Straße 55, 04103, Leipzig, Germany.|Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Mainz, Jakob-Welder-Weg 12, 55128, Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Elmar
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Brähler
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf and Schön Klinik Hamburg Eilbek, Martinistrasse 52, 20246, Hamburg, Germany. a.gumz@uke.de.|Berlin Psychological University, Am Köllnischen Park 2, 10179, Berlin, Germany. a.gumz@uke.de.
authors.forename: Antje
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gumz
mesh_terms: D000069:Acculturation; D001828:Body Image / Q000523:psychology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D012737:Sex Factors; D013337:Students, Medical; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Eating disorders; Germany; Medical students; Political changes; Psychopathology; Public mental health