Screening for abnormal eating attitudes in a population of Egyptian secondary school girls

Abdel-Nasser, Mervat Rizk (1992) Screening for abnormal eating attitudes in a population of Egyptian secondary school girls. University of Southampton, Doctoral Thesis.

Abstract

The author screened a population of secondary school girls in Cairo, Egypt (n= 351), for abnormal eating attitudes, using a translated version of the Eating Attitude Test questionnaire (EAT-40). 11.4% scored positively on the questionnaire, a higher percentage than those reported by Mann et al (1983), Szmukler (1983) and Sabine et al (1988) of 6.9%, 6.2% and 8.2% respectively. This variance could be interpreted as a measure of genuine concern over weight or a reflection of a difference in the performance of the questionnaire in this population. In an attempt to determine the latter a confirmatory factor analysis was carried out modelled on Garner et al (1982) and Eisler & Szmukler (1985). The results of the analyses pointed to the coherence of the instrument which showed reasonable psychometric standards in this population. Three cases clearly fulfilled Russell's criteria for a diagnosis of a full syndrome of bulimia nervosa (1.2%), this is broadly in keeping with the rates of the UK studies of 1.9% and 1.1% in Cooper & Fairburn (1983) and King (1989) respectively. Twelve pupils (3.35) showed sufficient concern over their weight to qualify for partial syndrome of bulimia nervosa. The results of this study confirm the initial impression that disorders of eating are emerging in cultures that did not produce such morbidity before with more or less the same prevalence as in the UK. The author discussed the findings in relation to issues of cultural immunity and vulnerability in this respect, and concluded that no society is truly protected against the development of such disorders due to the globalisation of culture by virtue of the media.

This record has no associated files available for download.

Contributors

Download statistics