Objectives: To determine the prevalence of eating disorders in secondary level students, as well as to determine the relationship between eating behaviour and personality traits.
Subjects and method: During the 1997-98 school year, 816 secondary level students from Langreo (Asturias) were evaluated.
Evaluation: Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI) and Eysenck Personality Questionnaire Adult Form (EPQ-A).
Results: The sample was made up of 415 males and 401 females [mean age (SD): 15.91 (1.37)]. Seventy-two <<possible cases>> of eating disorders were detected, 87.5% of which were females (p= 0.0000). The <<possible cases>> scored higher (p< 0.05) than their <<control>> counterparts on all EDI subscales, except perfectionism. The <<control>> females scored higher (p< 0.05) than the <<control>> males on the drive for thinness and dissatisfaction with one's body subscales, whereas the <<control>> males scored higher than the females on the perfectionism and maturity fears subscales. In both sexes, clinical features of neuroticism, introversion, and psychoticism were associated with higher scores (p< 0,05) on various EDI subscales.
Conclusions: Greater prevalence of <<possible>> eating disorders in females. The <<control>> subjects present a different eating behaviour profile based on sex. In both sexes, neuroticism, introversion, and psychoticism features favour a possible distortion of eating behaviour.