Adolescence is a critical period for onset of eating disorders (EDs), which are now becoming an important public health issue. At the same time, very few studies are devoted to identifying the factors associated with the risk of EDs development in Russian adolescents.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the incidence of predisposition to EDs and its relation to social and demographic factors, lifestyle factors, nutritional habits and quality of life in a sample of Russian school students.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
The study included tenth-graders of general academic schools (n=396, 62.9% girls) aged 16±0.5 years. The eating behavior rating scale was used to assess the risk of EDs development, the PedsQL 4.0 questionnaire — to evaluate health-related quality of life. Information on social and demographic factors, lifestyle factors and diet features was obtained from the questionnaires filled out by adolescents.
RESULTS
The high risk of EDs development has been established in 51 (12.9%) participants: in 3 (2%) boys, in 48 (19.3%) girls (χ2=24.5 p<0.001). Mothers belonging to the age group of 40—49 years, mothers’ higher education, breakfasts skippings, length of time spent at TV or in social networks/internet were independently statistically significantly associated with the risk of EDs development in schoolgirls (R2 0.214 and R2 0.252 in models for corresponding screen time modalities).The predisposition to EDs in girls is closely connected to interoceptive awareness, interpersonal distrust, ineffectiveness, body dissatisfaction, perfectionism, as well as significant decline in all aspects of quality of life.
CONCLUSION
The study results show that adolescent girls are a vulnerable group for eating disorders development. Possible ways of preventive work have been identified on the basis of obtained data.