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Pattern of birth and eating attitudes in young adults: Failure to replicate in a warmer climate
Author(s) -
PeñasLledó Eva,
Waller Glenn
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
international journal of eating disorders
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.785
H-Index - 138
eISSN - 1098-108X
pISSN - 0276-3478
DOI - 10.1002/eat.10079
Subject(s) - psychology , demography , season of birth , young adult , test (biology) , developmental psychology , psychiatry , ecology , sociology , biology
Objective Previous research (based in the United Kingdom) has shown a link between warmer temperatures at birth and restrictive eating attitudes in early adulthood. The current study examined whether this pattern can be replicated in a warmer area of the northern hemisphere (Southwest Spain). Methods The participants were 261 preuniversity volunteers (125 women and 136 men) born in Extremadura, Southwest Spain. Mann‐Whitney tests and chi‐square analyses were used to compare the eating characteristics of participants born in warm versus cooler months. Spearman's rho was used to test for dimensional associations between temperature at birth and eating characteristics. Results There were no links between temperature at birth and restrictive eating attitudes, whether temperature and eating pathology were considered dimensionally or categorically. Discussion The association of temperature at birth and restrictive eating pathology in early adulthood is not replicable in a warmer climate. Possible explanations are suggested to account for this pattern of findings. © 2002 by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Eat Disord 32: 367–371, 2002.