Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #104925

Jungwee Park, PhD and Marie P. Beaudet, PhD. Health Statistics Division, Statistics Canada, 3rd Floor RH Coats Building, Tunney's Pasture, Ottawa, ON K1A 0T6, Canada, 613-951-4598, jungwee.park@statcan.ca

This article examines the components of eating attitudes, their correlates and their associations to various mental health measures among weight-concerned women 15 or older. The data are from a Canadian national representative sample of women concerned about their weight. Four factors from the Eating Attitudes Test-26 were retained for analysis: food preoccupation, body image preoccupation, self-imposed dieting, and perceived external pressure. Weight-concerned women with high self-esteem were less likely to report being preoccupied with food (OR=0.90, 95% CI=0.87,0.94) and body image (OR=0.95, CI=0.91,0.99), and to perceive social pressure to eat (OR=0.95, CI=0.91,1.00) and were more likely to engage in self-imposed dieting (OR=1.05, CI=1.00,1.09). Food preoccupation among these women was positively associated with self-perceived poor mental health (OR=2.15, CI=1.55,2.97), major depression (OR=1.88, CI=1.33,2.67), and a diagnosis of an eating disorder (OR=4.06, CI=1.88,8.77). Women with body image preoccupation were more likely to have experienced depression in the last year (OR=1.71, CI=1.23,2.38) and to have received a diagnosis of an eating disorder (OR=3.03, CI=1.36,6.73). Women who scored high on the external pressure to eat dimension were more likely to have been diagnosed with an eating disorder (OR=4.63, CI=2.43,8.82). Self-imposed dieting was not associated with the selected mental illness indicators. Attention must be paid not only to eating behaviours, but also to their psychological correlates. The promotion of self-esteem may reduce the occurrence of poor eating behaviours and associated mental health problems.

Learning Objectives: The participant will be able to

• recognize risk factors of eating disorders and their mental health implications
• apply research findings to their own context
• develop a prevention/intervention plan for women with high risk of eating disorders

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.