RESUMO
The aim of this study was to assess eating behaviours and attitudes in a community sample of 615 adolescent Mexican students recruited at a middle school (192 boys and 226 girls; mean age +/- standard deviation 13.56+/-0.09) and high school (90 boys and 107 girls; mean age 16.04+/-0.12 years), who completed the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT), the Bulimia Test (BULIT) and the Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ). Multiple analysis of variance revealed the significant effect of gender on the negative feelings, body dissatisfaction, drive of thinness and perceived social pressure subscales, and school level on the body dissatisfaction and food preoccupation subscales. Among the high school girls, the gender x school level interaction had a significant effect on negative feelings, body dissatisfaction, drive of thinness, food preoccupation and perceived social pressure subscales. These data support previous findings concerning gender, and also suggest that perceived social pressure in the case of girls and food preoccupation in the case of boys could be important factors in the natural development of eating disorders.
Assuntos
Imagem Corporal , Transtornos da Alimentação e da Ingestão de Alimentos/epidemiologia , Transtornos da Alimentação e da Ingestão de Alimentos/psicologia , Grupo Associado , Comportamento Social , Adolescente , Fatores Etários , Análise de Variância , Anorexia Nervosa/epidemiologia , Anorexia Nervosa/psicologia , Atitude , Transtorno da Compulsão Alimentar/epidemiologia , Transtorno da Compulsão Alimentar/psicologia , Bulimia Nervosa/epidemiologia , Bulimia Nervosa/psicologia , Feminino , Humanos , Masculino , México/epidemiologia , Fatores Sexuais , Inquéritos e QuestionáriosRESUMO
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the psychometric properties of the Mexican version of the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-40) in clinical and control populations in Mexico City. METHOD: 276 female patients with eating disorders [52 with anorexia nervosa (AN), 102 with bulimia nervosa (BN) and 122 with eating disorders not otherwise specified (EDNOS)] and a comparison group of 280 normal control female subjects completed the EAT. RESULTS: The EAT had an adequate level of internal consistency in the clinical sample (Cronbach's alpha=0.90). Total score was significantly correlated with criterion group membership (r=0.77, p< or =0.0001), suggesting a high level of concurrent validity. There was a small overlap in the frequency distribution of the 2 groups (eating disorders and control) and only 6% of the normal controls scored as high as lowest anorexic and bulimic patients. The factorial analysis yielded five factors accounting for 46.6% of total variance: 1) Dietary restraint, 2) Bulimia, 3) Drive of thinness, 4) Food preoccupation and 5) Perceived social pressure. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides evidence that the Mexican version of the EAT is an economical, reliable and potentially useful instrument for research in this field.