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Risk of disordered eating attitudes among male adolescents in five Emirates of the United Arab Emirates
Author(s) -
Musaiger Abdulrahman O.,
AlMannai Mariam,
AlLalla Osama
Publication year - 2014
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.22256
Subject(s) - disordered eating , psychology , environmental health , developmental psychology , eating disorders , demography , clinical psychology , medicine , sociology
Objective The aim of this study was to highlight the prevalence of disordered eating attitudes among male adolescents in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Method A multistage stratified sampling method was used to select 731 male students aged 15–18 years from five Emirates of the UAE. The Eating Attitudes Test (EAT‐26) was used to determine the prevalence of disordered eating attitudes in students. Results The findings revealed that the proportion of disordered eating attitudes in the UAE was relatively high compared with many developing and developed countries and ranged from 33.1% to 49.1%. Moreover, students living in the Emirates of Dubai and Al‐Fujairah have double the risk of having disordered eating attitudes compared with students living in the other Emirates. Discussion The results suggest the need for screening adolescents for eating disorders, as well as for increased awareness and understanding of eating disorders and their associated risk factors in all male adolescents in the UAE. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (Int J Eat Disord 2014; 47:898–900)