Abstract
Objective: As there is a lack of information on eating disorders in Bangladesh, the aim of this study was to explore the eating disorder attitudes and behaviors among undergraduate university students in the country.
Materials and methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire survey and anthropometric measurement were conducted with undergraduate students who were recruited randomly from classes. The Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26) was used to determine the prevalence of disordered eating attitudes. The sample included 800 university students (56.6% men and 43.4% women), with a mean age of 21.0 years (SD=32.5).
Results: Using the EAT-26, 37.6% of the students were classified as being at risk for an eating disorder. In multivariate analysis, being a late adolescent (17–19 years), high religious involvement, overweight body perception, low body appreciation, having had cosmetic surgery, and current binge drinking were found to be associated with an eating disorder risk.
Discussion: Very high rates of eating disorder risk were found. This result calls for increased awareness and understanding of eating disorders, and related risk factors and interventions in university students in Bangladesh.
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©2015 by De Gruyter
Articles in the same Issue
- 10.1515/ijamh-2015-frontmatter1
- Editorial
- Pregnant, even when you did not want to be pregnant
- Original articles
- How adolescents learn about risk perception and behavior in regards to alcohol use in light of social learning theory: a qualitative study in Bogotá, Colombia
- An assessment of basic nutrition knowledge of adolescents with eating disorders and their parents
- More than a break: the impact of a social-pedagogical intervention during young persons’ long-term hospital admission – a qualitative study
- Effect of external classroom noise on schoolchildren’s reading and mathematics performance: correlation of noise levels and gender
- Physical self-esteem – a ten-year follow-up study from early adolescence to early adulthood
- Street hawking among in-school adolescents in a south-western town in Nigeria: pattern, determinants and effects on school performance
- Outcome of adolescents with eating disorders from an adolescent medicine service at a large children’s hospital
- Female adolescents’ perspective about reproductive health education needs: a mixed methods study with explanatory sequential design
- Study of menstrual patterns in adolescent girls with disabilities in a residential institution
- Characteristics of hand sanitizer ingestions by adolescents reported to poison centers
- Health care providers and adolescents’ perspectives towards adolescents’ health education needs: a need assessment based on comparative approach
- Determinants of abortion decisions among Ghanaian university students
- Predictors of peer victimization among Peruvian adolescents in the young lives cohort
- Risk of eating disorders among university students in Bangladesh
- Short Communication
- Nutrition and physical activity during the transition from adolescence to adulthood: further research is warranted
- Letter
- Losing lives to the peril of ragging
Articles in the same Issue
- 10.1515/ijamh-2015-frontmatter1
- Editorial
- Pregnant, even when you did not want to be pregnant
- Original articles
- How adolescents learn about risk perception and behavior in regards to alcohol use in light of social learning theory: a qualitative study in Bogotá, Colombia
- An assessment of basic nutrition knowledge of adolescents with eating disorders and their parents
- More than a break: the impact of a social-pedagogical intervention during young persons’ long-term hospital admission – a qualitative study
- Effect of external classroom noise on schoolchildren’s reading and mathematics performance: correlation of noise levels and gender
- Physical self-esteem – a ten-year follow-up study from early adolescence to early adulthood
- Street hawking among in-school adolescents in a south-western town in Nigeria: pattern, determinants and effects on school performance
- Outcome of adolescents with eating disorders from an adolescent medicine service at a large children’s hospital
- Female adolescents’ perspective about reproductive health education needs: a mixed methods study with explanatory sequential design
- Study of menstrual patterns in adolescent girls with disabilities in a residential institution
- Characteristics of hand sanitizer ingestions by adolescents reported to poison centers
- Health care providers and adolescents’ perspectives towards adolescents’ health education needs: a need assessment based on comparative approach
- Determinants of abortion decisions among Ghanaian university students
- Predictors of peer victimization among Peruvian adolescents in the young lives cohort
- Risk of eating disorders among university students in Bangladesh
- Short Communication
- Nutrition and physical activity during the transition from adolescence to adulthood: further research is warranted
- Letter
- Losing lives to the peril of ragging