Sex Differences in Quality of Life Impairment Associated With Body Dissatisfaction in Adolescents.

Purpose: Body dissatisfaction is strongly associated with quality of life impairment among both male and female adults, and the strength of this relationship is comparable between the sexes. Whether this is the case among adolescents, however, is unclear.

Methods: Adolescent girls (n = 1,135) and boys (n = 531) aged 12-18 years were recruited from secondary schools located in the Australian Capital Territory, Australia.

Disentangling body image: The relative associations of overvaluation, dissatisfaction, and preoccupation with psychological distress and eating disorder behaviors in male and female adolescents.

Objective: The distinctiveness and relative clinical significance of overvaluation, dissatisfaction, and preoccupation with body weight/shape remains inconclusive. This study sought to add to the evidence by testing associations between these three body image constructs and indicators of clinical significance.

Method: Male and female secondary students (N = 1,666) aged 12-18 years completed a survey that included measures of dissatisfaction with, overvaluation of, and preoccupation with weight/shape, psychological distress, eating disorder behaviors, and basic demographic information.

Obesity and emotional well-being in adolescents: Roles of body dissatisfaction, loss of control eating, and self-rated health.

Objective: Weak or inconsistent association between obesity and impairment in emotional well-being in population-based samples has led to efforts to identify mediating variables. This study examined the relative importance of body dissatisfaction (BD), loss of control (LOC) eating, and self-rated health (SRH) in mediating the association between obesity and impairment in emotional well-being in a school-based sample of adolescents (boys, n = 437; girls, n = 950).

Methods: Moderated mediation analysis was employed to assess the relative importance of the putative mediating variables and moderation of mediation effects by sex following the methods suggested by Hayes and coworkers.

Perceived psychosocial impairment associated with eating disorder features: responses to a mental health literacy intervention.

Background: Whether and to what extent young adults are aware of the adverse impact of eating disorder features (EDF) on psychosocial functioning is unclear, although such awareness may affect the experience and behavior of sufferers. The aim of the current study was to examine young adults' perceptions of psychosocial impairment associated with EDF, and the potential effect on these perceptions of an eating disorders "mental health literacy" (ED-MHL) intervention.

Methods: Undergraduate students (male: n = 35; female: n = 141) completed self-report questionnaires prior to, immediately following, and 3 months after completion of a 3-h ED-MHL intervention.

Adolescents' perception of the severity of binge eating disorder: a population-based study.

Background: Binge eating disorder (BED) is relatively common in young people and is associated with marked impairment in physical and mental health.

Aims: We examined perceptions of the severity of BED in a population-based sample of adolescents.

Methods: Male (n = 531) and female (n = 1135) adolescents recruited from 12 Australian schools completed a survey that featured a vignette of a fictional female school student suffering from BED followed by a series of questions addressing perceptions of severity.

Sex differences in psychosocial impairment associated with eating disorder features in adolescents: A school-based study.

Objective: To examine sex differences in psychosocial impairment associated with eating disorder features (EDF) in adolescents.

Method: Questionnaires that assessed EDF (extreme dietary restriction, objective binge eating, subjective binge eating, purging, excessive exercise, and weight/shape overvaluation) and psychosocial impairment (general psychological distress and quality of life) were completed by a school-based sample of adolescent males (n = 531) and females (n = 1135) in the Australian Capital Territory region of Australia.

Results: Each of the EDF assessed was associated with significant impairment in both male and female participants and this was the case for measures of both general psychological distress and quality of life, the only exception being that subjective binge eating was associated with elevated levels of distress in girls but not boys.

Loss of control eating with and without the undue influence of weight or shape on self-evaluation: evidence from an adolescent population.

Background: The overvaluation of weight and/or shape ("overvaluation"), a diagnostic criterion for anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, is increasingly supported for inclusion in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5th Edition (DSM-5) criteria of binge eating disorder (BED). However, current evidence has been largely confined to adult populations. The current study aims to examine the status of overvaluation among adolescents with loss of control (LOC) eating recruited from a large, population-based sample.

Poor self-recognition of disordered eating among girls with bulimic-type eating disorders: cause for concern?

Aim: Bulimic-type eating disorders are common among young women and associated with high levels of distress and disability and low uptake of mental health care. We examined self-recognition of disordered eating and factors associated with this among female adolescents with bulimic-type eating disorders (n = 139) recruited from a large, population-based sample.

Methods: A vignette of a fictional character with bulimia nervosa was presented, followed by a series of questions addressing the nature and treatment of the problem described.

Improving eating disorders mental health literacy: a preliminary evaluation of the "Should I say something?" workshop.

A repeated measures, uncontrolled, preliminary evaluation of a single 3-hour workshop-"Should I Say Something?"-aimed at improving eating disorders mental health literacy, was conducted in a sample of 177 university undergraduates. Following participation in the workshop, significant increases in eating disorder recognition and knowledge, and significant decreases in stigmatizing attitudes, were reported by participants. Moreover, 85% of participants reported that they provided assistance to someone whom they suspected had a mental health condition, including an eating disorder, during the 3-month follow-up period.

Eating-disordered behavior in adolescent boys: eating disorder examination questionnaire norms.

Objective: We sought to provide normative data for the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q) for adolescent boys.

Method: The EDE-Q was completed by 531 boys aged 12-18 years recruited from a number of schools in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) region of Australia. Data for 1,135 female adolescents, recruited as part of the same research project, are provided for comparative purposes.

Self-recognition of eating-disordered behavior in college women: further evidence of poor eating disorders "mental health literacy"?

Self-recognition of eating-disordered behavior was examined among female college students (n = 94) with a high level of bulimic-type eating disorder symptoms. A vignette was presented describing a fictional young woman with bulimia nervosa. Participants were asked whether they might currently have a problem such as the one described, while also completing self-report measures of eating disorder symptoms, general psychological distress, and functional impairment.