Association of Eating Attitudes Between Teenage Girls and Their Parents

Aina A. Yanez, Maria A. Peix, Neus Atserias, Anna Arnau, Johannes Brug, Aina A. Yanez, Maria A. Peix, Neus Atserias, Anna Arnau and Johannes Brug
Additional contact information
Aina A. Yanez: aina.yanez@caubet-cimera.es
Aina A. Yanez: Department of Epidemiology, Hospital General de Vic, Vic, and Program of Epidemiology & Clinical Research, Foundation Caubet-Cimera, Balearic Islands, Spain
Maria A. Peix: Department of Pediatrics, Hospital General de Vic, Vic, Spain
Neus Atserias: Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Hospital General de Vic, Vic, Spain
Anna Arnau: Department of Epidemiology, Hospital General de Vic, Vic, Spain
Johannes Brug: Department of Public Health, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 2007, vol. 53, issue 6, 507-513

Abstract: Background: Mothers of eating disordered adolescents were more likely to have an eating disorder. However, some contradictory findings were reported because some studies failed to find this association. Aims: The main objective of the study was to determine the association of eating attitudes in adolescent girls with eating attitudes in their parents. Methods: A sample of 969 girls from Osona County (Barcelona, Spain) and their parents participated in the study. Girls completed the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26) and their weight and height were measured. Parents completed questionnaire with self-reported weight and height, demographic characteristics and EAT-26. Results: 10.1% of girls showed high EAT-26 scores (> 20 points), indicating abnormal eating attitudes. Female adolescents were almost three times more likely to have abnormal eating attitudes if their mothers scored high on EAT-26 (OR = 2.8; 95% CI 1.5—5.2). Other significant predictors of high EAT-26 scores were age and obesity. Conclusions: An abnormal eating attitude of the mother was identified as a potential risk factor in the development of eating disorders in female adolescents.

Keywords: adolescents; eating disorders; parental influence (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2007
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0020764007078350 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:socpsy:v:53:y:2007:i:6:p:507-513

DOI: 10.1177/0020764007078350

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in International Journal of Social Psychiatry
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().