Effect of gender and school level on disordered eating behaviours and attitudes in Mexican adolescents

The aim of this study was to assess eating behaviours and attitudes in a community sample of 615 adolescent Mexican students recruited at a middle school (192 boys and 226 girls; mean age ± standard deviation 13.56±0.09) and high school (90 boys and 107 girls; mean age 16.04±0.12 years), who completed the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT), the Bulimia Test (BULIT) and the Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ). Multiple analysis of variance revealed the significant effect of gender on the negative feelings, body dissatisfaction, drive of thinness and perceived social pressure subscales, and school level on the body dissatisfaction and food preoccupation subscales. Among the high school girls, the gender x school level interaction had a significant effect on negative feelings, body dissatisfaction, drive of thinness, food preoccupation and perceived social pressure subscales. These data support previous findings concerning gender, and also suggest that perceived social pressure in the case of girls and food preoccupation in the case of boys could be important factors in the natural development of eating disorders.