Eating disorder and its risk factors among middle school students

Objective To explore the prevalence and risk factors of eating disorder among middle school students.Methods A total of 3 351 middle school students from seven schools of Dongguan, Guangdong province were selected with stratified cluster random sampling and surveyed with Eating Disorder Inventory(EDI), Self-Rating Depression Scale(SDS), Self-Rating Anxiety Scale(SAS), and Family Environment Scale(FES-CV).Results The estimated overal prevalence of eating disorders in the students was 2.06%(1.42% for the boys and 2.16% for the girls).Four factors of EDI were significantly associated with eating disorder among the girls.Entertainment of family was a special factor for eating disorder in the boys.Conclusion There are gender differences in risk factors of eating disorder among middle school students, and entertainment of family member is a special factor for boys.