The understanding of risk factors for eating disorders in male adolescents
-
Sinem Akgül
,
Devrim Akdemir
Abstract
Objective: The study aimed to describe the medical, psychiatric, and cultural features of adolescent males with an eating disorder (ED).
Materials and methods: This retrospective evaluation took place at Hacettepe University, İhsan Doğramacı Children’s Hospital, Ankara, Turkey, and covered a 4-year period between 2010 and 2013. Sixty adolescents were diagnosed with an ED during this period, 47 (78.3%) were females and 13 were males (21.7%) male. All 13 male patients who met full criteria for an ED according to the DSM criteria were included. Medical and psychiatric records of male patients treated for an ED were re-evaluated.
Results: The most striking finding of the study was that the female to male ratio became 3.6:1, with the increasing number of male adolescents with an ED. In our study, medical findings and complications of males with ED were similar to those seen in females. However, the most predominant gender difference was the co occurrence of a comorbid physical or mental illness.
Conclusion: It is imperative to raise awareness of EDs in males. Although the medical findings of the study suggest that male and female adolescents with EDs are clinically similar to each other, the understanding of certain gender-specific risk factors shown in our study, such as a medical illness and/or obesity and co-morbid psychiatric diagnosis, are essential in raising suspicion. Further studies that especially evaluate cultural and social factors that affect parenting styles for boys are important in addessing possible risk factors for the development of EDs in males within different societies.
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©2016 by De Gruyter
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
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- Original Articles
- Practices and perceptions of adolescent girls regarding the impact of dysmenorrhea on their routine life: a comparative study in the urban, rural, and slum areas of Chandigarh
- Needs and expectations of adolescent in-patients: the experience of Gaslini Children’s Hospital
- Prevalence and determinants of cigarette smoking among adolescents in secondary schools in Port Harcourt, Southern Nigeria
- Comprehensive obesity evaluation and treatment of three adolescents: a case series
- Exercise, bodyweight perception and related weight loss behavior among adolescents in Trinidad and Tobago
- Oral health habits, attitudes and behaviors of Portuguese adolescents
- Using UV photoaged photography to better understand Western Australian teenagers’ attitudes towards adopting sun-protective behaviors
- Adolescent pesticide exposures reported to Texas poison centers
- Can a healthy youth development clinic serving latino families be youth friendly and family oriented? A mixed-methods evaluation
- Insights into Facebook Pages: an early adolescent health research study page targeted at parents
- Iranian adolescents’ insufficient physical activity: a mixed methods explanatory sequential study
- Sensation seeking indirectly affects perceptions of risk for co-occurrent substance use
- The understanding of risk factors for eating disorders in male adolescents
- Case Reports
- The role of temperament in traumatic hearing loss: a single case study of a cochlear-implanted patient
- Congenital megalourethra: a case report of an isolated delayed presentation
- Short Communication
- Problematic internet use and social networking site use among Dutch adolescents
- Letter to the Editor
- A teen’s perspective: adolescent access to their own electronic medical records
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- Smoking: do you really know the risk?
- Original Articles
- Practices and perceptions of adolescent girls regarding the impact of dysmenorrhea on their routine life: a comparative study in the urban, rural, and slum areas of Chandigarh
- Needs and expectations of adolescent in-patients: the experience of Gaslini Children’s Hospital
- Prevalence and determinants of cigarette smoking among adolescents in secondary schools in Port Harcourt, Southern Nigeria
- Comprehensive obesity evaluation and treatment of three adolescents: a case series
- Exercise, bodyweight perception and related weight loss behavior among adolescents in Trinidad and Tobago
- Oral health habits, attitudes and behaviors of Portuguese adolescents
- Using UV photoaged photography to better understand Western Australian teenagers’ attitudes towards adopting sun-protective behaviors
- Adolescent pesticide exposures reported to Texas poison centers
- Can a healthy youth development clinic serving latino families be youth friendly and family oriented? A mixed-methods evaluation
- Insights into Facebook Pages: an early adolescent health research study page targeted at parents
- Iranian adolescents’ insufficient physical activity: a mixed methods explanatory sequential study
- Sensation seeking indirectly affects perceptions of risk for co-occurrent substance use
- The understanding of risk factors for eating disorders in male adolescents
- Case Reports
- The role of temperament in traumatic hearing loss: a single case study of a cochlear-implanted patient
- Congenital megalourethra: a case report of an isolated delayed presentation
- Short Communication
- Problematic internet use and social networking site use among Dutch adolescents
- Letter to the Editor
- A teen’s perspective: adolescent access to their own electronic medical records
