BRIEF REPORT
Risk of Disordered Eating Attitudes among Male Adolescents in Five Emirates of the United Arab Emirates Abdulrahman O. Musaiger, DrPHSc1* Mariam Al-Mannai, PhD2 Osama Al-Lalla, PhD3
ABSTRACT Objective: The aim of this study was to highlight the prevalence of disordered eating attitudes among male adolescents in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Method: A multistage stratified sampling method was used to select 731 male students aged 15–18 years from five Emirates of the UAE. The Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26) was used to determine the prevalence of disordered eating attitudes in students. Results: The findings revealed that the proportion of disordered eating attitudes in the UAE was relatively high compared with many developing and developed countries and ranged from 33.1% to 49.1%. Moreover, students living in the
Introduction The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a federation of seven Emirates and one of the Arab Gulf countries. The country experienced rapid socioeconomic growth during the last five decades. The discovery of oil in the 1960s had a marked influence on the economy, transforming the UAE from a poor nation to the world’s seventh largest oil producer.1 This has led UAE to open up to globalization, westernization, urbanization, and industrialization, resulting in great changes in lifestyle, dietary habits, and physical activity. These changes have also led to a increase in the prevalence of diet-related noncommunicable diseases such as obesity, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes, and some types of cancer. Currently, these diseases are the cause for more than 50% of the annual total deaths.2 The high prevalence of obesity has increased the weight Accepted 13 January 2014 *Correspondence to: Prof. Abdulrahman O. Musaiger, Nutrition and Health Research Unit, Deanship of Scientific Research, University of Bahrain; Director, Arab Centre for Nutrition, Kingdom of Bahrain, P.O. Box 26923. E-mail: [email protected] 1 Arab Centre for Nutrition, Bahrain 2 Department of Mathematics, College of Science, University of Bahrain, Bahrain 3 Department of Nutrition and Health, Ministry of Education, Dubai, United Arab Emirates Published online 19 February 2014 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com). DOI: 10.1002/eat.22256 C 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. V
898
Emirates of Dubai and Al-Fujairah have double the risk of having disordered eating attitudes compared with students living in the other Emirates. Discussion: The results suggest the need for screening adolescents for eating disorders, as well as for increased awareness and understanding of eating disorders and their associated risk factors in C 2014 all male adolescents in the UAE. V Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Keywords: adolescents; eating attitudes; United Arab Emirates (Int J Eat Disord 2014; 47:898–900)
concern among both adolescents males and females in the UAE. Obesity during adolescence is associated with an increased risk of eating disorders, which include eating attitudes, weight concern, dieting, binge eating, anorexia nervosa, and bulimia.3 The prevalence of obesity among adolescents in the UAE is relatively high compared with most other Arab countries. It was reported that between Emirati adolescents aged 10–19 years, 34.4% of males and 32.7% of females were overweight or obese.4 Furthermore, the adoption of various Western attitudes and behaviors have led to a boost in the proportion of UAE adolescents with eating disorders.1 Studies on eating disorders in the UAE are limited and mostly focused on girls and women. Using the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26), Eapen et al.5 found that 15.2% of females aged 13–18 years had disordered eating attitudes. Thomas et al.1 used the same test to show that 13.3% of university women in Abu Dhabi Emirate (UAE) had disordered eating attitudes. A recent cross-cultural study using EAT26 showed that there was a worrying proportion of disordered eating attitudes among adolescents aged 15–18 years in Sharjah Emirate (29.8% of males and 37.4% of females).6 However, there is a lack of related information among adolescents in the rest of the UAE, as well as a lack of data on male adolescents. We hypothesized that male adolescents in the UAE would have the same International Journal of Eating Disorders 47:8 898–900 2014
RISK OF DISORDERED EATING ATTITUDES TABLE 1. Risk of disordered eating attitudes among male adolescents (15–18 years) in five Emirates of the United Arab Emirates, using Dubai as a reference Disordered Eating Attitudes NonDdisordered Emirate Dubai Ajman Al-Fujairah Ras-Alkhaima Um-al-Quain Total
Disordered
Sample size
Mean age 6 SD (years)
N
%
N
%
159 145 150 141 136 731
16.2 6 0.93 16.8 6 1.04 16.4 6 0.90 16.5 6 0.97 16.9 6 1.2 16.6 6 1.0
81 97 78 92 82 430
50.9 66.9 52.0 65.2 60.3 58.8
78 48 72 49 54 301
49.1 33.1 48.0 34.8 39.7 41.2
Odds ratio (695% CI)
P-value
Reference 0.51 (0.31–-0.84) 0.96 (0.60–-1.54) 0.55 (0.34–-0.98) 0.68 (0.42–-1.12) –
– 0.005 0.853 0.012 0.108 –
SD5 Standard Deviation, CI 5 Confidence Interval.
proportion of disordered eating attitudes as female adolescents. This is because of two reasons: first, the rapid changes in the sociocultural factors in the UAE have affected both genders. Second, the proportion of those who are overweight or obese was almost equal among male and female adolescents, and consequently, the weight concern may be high between both genders. Therefore, the purpose of this short study was to provide information on eating disorders among adolescent males in five Emirates in the UAE.
Method Male secondary school students (15–18 years) were the target group in this study. A multistage, stratified sampling method was used to select the students from five out of seven Emirates: Ajman, Al-Fujairah, Dubai, RasAlkhaima, and Um-al-Quain. Two Emirates were excluded: Abu-Dhabi and Sharjah. Abu-Dhabi was excluded because separate permission is required to carry out a study, which is a long process, and we needed to implement the study before the final examination. Sharjah was excluded because, at the same time of this survey, there was a similar survey using the same instrument and the same age group and, therefore, we omitted this Emirate to avoid duplication, especially as that study had already published.6 Using a simple random method, two public secondary schools were first selected from each Emirate. In the second step, a simple random procedure was used to select three classes from each secondary level (levels 10–12) in each school. The total sample was 731 students. Ethical approval was obtained from the Ministry of Education in Dubai. Physical education teachers in each school collected data during 2010. The EAT-26 was used to measure the proportion of students with disordered eating attitudes.7 The Arabic version of the EAT-26 was validated by Al-Subaie et al.8 and has been used on adolescents in several studies in the Arab countries.9,10 A student was considered at risk International Journal of Eating Disorders 47:8 898–900 2014
of disordered eating attitudes when the total score of the EAT-26 was 20 points or more. Data were analyzed using SPSS statistical package version 17. Odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals were used to measure the risk of disordered eating attitudes, and students living in Dubai were considered the reference group.
Results The prevalence of disordered eating attitudes among Emirati male adolescents ranged from 33.1% to 49.1%, with an average of 41.2%. With reference to students living in Dubai Emirate, students living in Ajman, Ras-Alkhaima, and Umal-Quain have about 50% less risk of having disordered eating attitudes. Dubai and Al-Fujairah Emirates had the highest proportions of disordered eating attitudes (Table 1).
Discussion The current study showed that male adolescents living in the UAE had a high proportion of disordered eating attitudes (33.1%–49.1%). These findings are close to those reported in Arab countries such as Kuwait (47.3%) and Sharjah Emirate (29.8%),6 but higher than those reported in Algeria (13.8%), Jordan (20.1%), Libya (19.35%), Palestine (23.2%), and Syria (14.6%).6 However, the prevalence of disordered eating attitudes between Emirati male adolescents is close to female adolescents in most of these Arab countries (ranging from 32.6% in Libya to 42.7% in Jordan).6 This indicates that disordered eating attitudes are a problem of considerable concern among adolescents in the UAE and, thus, require further assessment. Several factors can be linked to the high prevalence of disordered eating attitudes among male adolescents in the UAE. The rapid increase in socioeconomic status, nutrition transition, and 899
MUSAIGER ET AL.
Westernization play important roles in the high prevalence of eating disorders in this country among male and female adolescents. It was documented that higher socioeconomic status is associated with a higher risk of eating disorders.11 The rapid nutrition transition that has occurred in the UAE during the last decades has led to marked changes in the food habits and lifestyle of adolescents. Food habits of adolescents in the UAE are characterized by a high consumption of fat, energy, and salt and a low consumption of dietary fiber and fruits and vegetables. Furthermore, the physical activity of adolescents in this country has diminished markedly.12 Such changes have contributed to an increased occurrence of obesity, which in turn is associated with a higher prevalence of eating disorders.6 Westernization, especially Westernized media that promote thinness as a sign of health, has influenced teens and young people to become more concerned about their weight and body shape.13 Male adolescents in Dubai were used as a reference for other adolescents in the Emirates, as Dubai Emirate is characterized by a higher socioeconomic position, is more extensively multiethnic, and is more westernized than the other Emirates. It has been suggested that living in Dubai Emirate may increase psychological pressure, which could be associated with a greater occurrence of eating disorders. This may indicate that ethnicity, socioeconomic status, self-esteem, and depression are independently associated with eating attitudes in the UAE.1 However, we have no clear explanation for the high rate of disordered eating attitudes in Al-Fujairah Emirate. We suggest that as sociocultural factors may contribute to the high rate of disordered eating attitudes in Al-Fujairah Emirate, they should be investigated in future research. We hope that this short report stimulates other researchers to carry out more in-depth studies on this topic. The low rate of disordered eating attitudes in the other three Emirates may be due to the low influence of westernization, urbanization, and industrialization, as Ajman, Ras-Alkhaima, and Um-al-Quain Emirates are more cultural-based communities, and most of the big economic and social projects in the UAE are based in Dubai and Abu-Dhabi Emirates. However, with the absence of data on social changes in Ajman, Ras-Alkhaima, and Um-al-Quain Emirates, it is difficult to draw any concrete conclusions.
900
Two limitations should be considered in this study: first, the weight and height of the participants were not measured, and therefore we cannot link disordered eating attitudes with obesity. Second, the time constraint of the study before the final examination prevented us from including the Abu-Dhabi Emirate, capital of the UAE. However, two strengths of this study are worth mentioning. First, unlike many studies in developing and developed countries that focused on female adolescents, this study focused on male adolescents. Second, the study provides, for the first time, data on eating attitudes in five Arab Emirates that are rarely investigated. Data from this study can be used as a baseline for further comprehensive studies on the prevalence of and factors associated with eating disorders in the UAE.
References 1. Thomas J, Khan S, Abdulrahman AA. Eating attitudes and body image concerns among female university students in the United Arab Emirates. Appetite 2010;54:595–598. 2. Ng SW, Zaghloul S, Ali H, Harrison G, Yeatts K, El Sadig M, et al. Nutrition transition in the United Arab Emirates. Eur J Clin Nutr 2011;65:1328–1337. 3. Goldschmidt AB, Aspen VP, Sinton MM, Tanofsky-Kraji M, Wilfley DE. Disordered eating attitudes and behaviors in overweight youth. Obesity 2008;16: 257–264. 4. Musaiger AO. Overweight and obesity in Eastern Mediterranean region: Prevalence and possible causes. J Obes 2011;ID 407237:17. 5. Eapen V, Mabrouk AA, Bin-Othman S. Disordered eating attitudes and symptomatology among adolescent girls in the United Arab Emirates. Eat Behav 2006;7:53–60. 6. Musaiger AO, Al-Mannai M, Tayyem R, Al-lalla O, Ali EY, Kalam F, et al. Risk of disordered eating attitudes among adolescents in seven Arab countries by gender and obesity: A cross-cultural study. Appetite 2013;60: 162–167. 7. Garner DM, Olmsted MP, Bohr Y, Garfinkel P. The eating attitudes test: Psychometric features and clinical correlates. Psychol Med 1982;12:871– 878. 8. Al-Subaie A, Al-Shammari S, Bamgboye E, Al-Sabhan K, Al-Shehri S, Bannah AR. Validity of the Arabic version of the eating attitudes test. Int J Eat Disord 1996;20:321–324. 9. Mousa TY, Al-Domi HA, Mashal RH, Jibri MA. Eating disturbances among adolescent school girls in Jordan. Appetite 2010;54:196–201. 10. Al-Subaie AS. Some correlations of dietary behavior in Saudi school girls. Int J Eat Disord 2000; 28: 242–246. 11. Rogers L, Resnick MD, Mitchell JE, Blum RW. The relationship between socioeconomic status and eating-disordered behaviors in a community sample of adolescent girls. Int J Eat Disord 1997;1:15–23. 12. BinZaal AA, Musaiger AO, D’Souza R. Dietary habits associated with obesity among adolescents in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Nutricion Hospitalaria 2009;24:437–444. 13. Musaiger AO, Al-Mannai M. Association between exposure to media and body weight concern among female university students in five Arab countries: A preliminary cross-cultural study. J Biosoc Sci 2013;12:1–8.
International Journal of Eating Disorders 47:8 898–900 2014
Copyright of International Journal of Eating Disorders is the property of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.
Risk of Disordered Eating Attitudes among Male Adolescents in Five Emirates of the United Arab Emirates Abdulrahman O. Musaiger, DrPHSc1* Mariam Al-Mannai, PhD2 Osama Al-Lalla, PhD3
ABSTRACT Objective: The aim of this study was to highlight the prevalence of disordered eating attitudes among male adolescents in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Method: A multistage stratified sampling method was used to select 731 male students aged 15–18 years from five Emirates of the UAE. The Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26) was used to determine the prevalence of disordered eating attitudes in students. Results: The findings revealed that the proportion of disordered eating attitudes in the UAE was relatively high compared with many developing and developed countries and ranged from 33.1% to 49.1%. Moreover, students living in the
Introduction The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a federation of seven Emirates and one of the Arab Gulf countries. The country experienced rapid socioeconomic growth during the last five decades. The discovery of oil in the 1960s had a marked influence on the economy, transforming the UAE from a poor nation to the world’s seventh largest oil producer.1 This has led UAE to open up to globalization, westernization, urbanization, and industrialization, resulting in great changes in lifestyle, dietary habits, and physical activity. These changes have also led to a increase in the prevalence of diet-related noncommunicable diseases such as obesity, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes, and some types of cancer. Currently, these diseases are the cause for more than 50% of the annual total deaths.2 The high prevalence of obesity has increased the weight Accepted 13 January 2014 *Correspondence to: Prof. Abdulrahman O. Musaiger, Nutrition and Health Research Unit, Deanship of Scientific Research, University of Bahrain; Director, Arab Centre for Nutrition, Kingdom of Bahrain, P.O. Box 26923. E-mail: [email protected] 1 Arab Centre for Nutrition, Bahrain 2 Department of Mathematics, College of Science, University of Bahrain, Bahrain 3 Department of Nutrition and Health, Ministry of Education, Dubai, United Arab Emirates Published online 19 February 2014 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com). DOI: 10.1002/eat.22256 C 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. V
898
Emirates of Dubai and Al-Fujairah have double the risk of having disordered eating attitudes compared with students living in the other Emirates. Discussion: The results suggest the need for screening adolescents for eating disorders, as well as for increased awareness and understanding of eating disorders and their associated risk factors in C 2014 all male adolescents in the UAE. V Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Keywords: adolescents; eating attitudes; United Arab Emirates (Int J Eat Disord 2014; 47:898–900)
concern among both adolescents males and females in the UAE. Obesity during adolescence is associated with an increased risk of eating disorders, which include eating attitudes, weight concern, dieting, binge eating, anorexia nervosa, and bulimia.3 The prevalence of obesity among adolescents in the UAE is relatively high compared with most other Arab countries. It was reported that between Emirati adolescents aged 10–19 years, 34.4% of males and 32.7% of females were overweight or obese.4 Furthermore, the adoption of various Western attitudes and behaviors have led to a boost in the proportion of UAE adolescents with eating disorders.1 Studies on eating disorders in the UAE are limited and mostly focused on girls and women. Using the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26), Eapen et al.5 found that 15.2% of females aged 13–18 years had disordered eating attitudes. Thomas et al.1 used the same test to show that 13.3% of university women in Abu Dhabi Emirate (UAE) had disordered eating attitudes. A recent cross-cultural study using EAT26 showed that there was a worrying proportion of disordered eating attitudes among adolescents aged 15–18 years in Sharjah Emirate (29.8% of males and 37.4% of females).6 However, there is a lack of related information among adolescents in the rest of the UAE, as well as a lack of data on male adolescents. We hypothesized that male adolescents in the UAE would have the same International Journal of Eating Disorders 47:8 898–900 2014
RISK OF DISORDERED EATING ATTITUDES TABLE 1. Risk of disordered eating attitudes among male adolescents (15–18 years) in five Emirates of the United Arab Emirates, using Dubai as a reference Disordered Eating Attitudes NonDdisordered Emirate Dubai Ajman Al-Fujairah Ras-Alkhaima Um-al-Quain Total
Disordered
Sample size
Mean age 6 SD (years)
N
%
N
%
159 145 150 141 136 731
16.2 6 0.93 16.8 6 1.04 16.4 6 0.90 16.5 6 0.97 16.9 6 1.2 16.6 6 1.0
81 97 78 92 82 430
50.9 66.9 52.0 65.2 60.3 58.8
78 48 72 49 54 301
49.1 33.1 48.0 34.8 39.7 41.2
Odds ratio (695% CI)
P-value
Reference 0.51 (0.31–-0.84) 0.96 (0.60–-1.54) 0.55 (0.34–-0.98) 0.68 (0.42–-1.12) –
– 0.005 0.853 0.012 0.108 –
SD5 Standard Deviation, CI 5 Confidence Interval.
proportion of disordered eating attitudes as female adolescents. This is because of two reasons: first, the rapid changes in the sociocultural factors in the UAE have affected both genders. Second, the proportion of those who are overweight or obese was almost equal among male and female adolescents, and consequently, the weight concern may be high between both genders. Therefore, the purpose of this short study was to provide information on eating disorders among adolescent males in five Emirates in the UAE.
Method Male secondary school students (15–18 years) were the target group in this study. A multistage, stratified sampling method was used to select the students from five out of seven Emirates: Ajman, Al-Fujairah, Dubai, RasAlkhaima, and Um-al-Quain. Two Emirates were excluded: Abu-Dhabi and Sharjah. Abu-Dhabi was excluded because separate permission is required to carry out a study, which is a long process, and we needed to implement the study before the final examination. Sharjah was excluded because, at the same time of this survey, there was a similar survey using the same instrument and the same age group and, therefore, we omitted this Emirate to avoid duplication, especially as that study had already published.6 Using a simple random method, two public secondary schools were first selected from each Emirate. In the second step, a simple random procedure was used to select three classes from each secondary level (levels 10–12) in each school. The total sample was 731 students. Ethical approval was obtained from the Ministry of Education in Dubai. Physical education teachers in each school collected data during 2010. The EAT-26 was used to measure the proportion of students with disordered eating attitudes.7 The Arabic version of the EAT-26 was validated by Al-Subaie et al.8 and has been used on adolescents in several studies in the Arab countries.9,10 A student was considered at risk International Journal of Eating Disorders 47:8 898–900 2014
of disordered eating attitudes when the total score of the EAT-26 was 20 points or more. Data were analyzed using SPSS statistical package version 17. Odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals were used to measure the risk of disordered eating attitudes, and students living in Dubai were considered the reference group.
Results The prevalence of disordered eating attitudes among Emirati male adolescents ranged from 33.1% to 49.1%, with an average of 41.2%. With reference to students living in Dubai Emirate, students living in Ajman, Ras-Alkhaima, and Umal-Quain have about 50% less risk of having disordered eating attitudes. Dubai and Al-Fujairah Emirates had the highest proportions of disordered eating attitudes (Table 1).
Discussion The current study showed that male adolescents living in the UAE had a high proportion of disordered eating attitudes (33.1%–49.1%). These findings are close to those reported in Arab countries such as Kuwait (47.3%) and Sharjah Emirate (29.8%),6 but higher than those reported in Algeria (13.8%), Jordan (20.1%), Libya (19.35%), Palestine (23.2%), and Syria (14.6%).6 However, the prevalence of disordered eating attitudes between Emirati male adolescents is close to female adolescents in most of these Arab countries (ranging from 32.6% in Libya to 42.7% in Jordan).6 This indicates that disordered eating attitudes are a problem of considerable concern among adolescents in the UAE and, thus, require further assessment. Several factors can be linked to the high prevalence of disordered eating attitudes among male adolescents in the UAE. The rapid increase in socioeconomic status, nutrition transition, and 899
MUSAIGER ET AL.
Westernization play important roles in the high prevalence of eating disorders in this country among male and female adolescents. It was documented that higher socioeconomic status is associated with a higher risk of eating disorders.11 The rapid nutrition transition that has occurred in the UAE during the last decades has led to marked changes in the food habits and lifestyle of adolescents. Food habits of adolescents in the UAE are characterized by a high consumption of fat, energy, and salt and a low consumption of dietary fiber and fruits and vegetables. Furthermore, the physical activity of adolescents in this country has diminished markedly.12 Such changes have contributed to an increased occurrence of obesity, which in turn is associated with a higher prevalence of eating disorders.6 Westernization, especially Westernized media that promote thinness as a sign of health, has influenced teens and young people to become more concerned about their weight and body shape.13 Male adolescents in Dubai were used as a reference for other adolescents in the Emirates, as Dubai Emirate is characterized by a higher socioeconomic position, is more extensively multiethnic, and is more westernized than the other Emirates. It has been suggested that living in Dubai Emirate may increase psychological pressure, which could be associated with a greater occurrence of eating disorders. This may indicate that ethnicity, socioeconomic status, self-esteem, and depression are independently associated with eating attitudes in the UAE.1 However, we have no clear explanation for the high rate of disordered eating attitudes in Al-Fujairah Emirate. We suggest that as sociocultural factors may contribute to the high rate of disordered eating attitudes in Al-Fujairah Emirate, they should be investigated in future research. We hope that this short report stimulates other researchers to carry out more in-depth studies on this topic. The low rate of disordered eating attitudes in the other three Emirates may be due to the low influence of westernization, urbanization, and industrialization, as Ajman, Ras-Alkhaima, and Um-al-Quain Emirates are more cultural-based communities, and most of the big economic and social projects in the UAE are based in Dubai and Abu-Dhabi Emirates. However, with the absence of data on social changes in Ajman, Ras-Alkhaima, and Um-al-Quain Emirates, it is difficult to draw any concrete conclusions.
900
Two limitations should be considered in this study: first, the weight and height of the participants were not measured, and therefore we cannot link disordered eating attitudes with obesity. Second, the time constraint of the study before the final examination prevented us from including the Abu-Dhabi Emirate, capital of the UAE. However, two strengths of this study are worth mentioning. First, unlike many studies in developing and developed countries that focused on female adolescents, this study focused on male adolescents. Second, the study provides, for the first time, data on eating attitudes in five Arab Emirates that are rarely investigated. Data from this study can be used as a baseline for further comprehensive studies on the prevalence of and factors associated with eating disorders in the UAE.
References 1. Thomas J, Khan S, Abdulrahman AA. Eating attitudes and body image concerns among female university students in the United Arab Emirates. Appetite 2010;54:595–598. 2. Ng SW, Zaghloul S, Ali H, Harrison G, Yeatts K, El Sadig M, et al. Nutrition transition in the United Arab Emirates. Eur J Clin Nutr 2011;65:1328–1337. 3. Goldschmidt AB, Aspen VP, Sinton MM, Tanofsky-Kraji M, Wilfley DE. Disordered eating attitudes and behaviors in overweight youth. Obesity 2008;16: 257–264. 4. Musaiger AO. Overweight and obesity in Eastern Mediterranean region: Prevalence and possible causes. J Obes 2011;ID 407237:17. 5. Eapen V, Mabrouk AA, Bin-Othman S. Disordered eating attitudes and symptomatology among adolescent girls in the United Arab Emirates. Eat Behav 2006;7:53–60. 6. Musaiger AO, Al-Mannai M, Tayyem R, Al-lalla O, Ali EY, Kalam F, et al. Risk of disordered eating attitudes among adolescents in seven Arab countries by gender and obesity: A cross-cultural study. Appetite 2013;60: 162–167. 7. Garner DM, Olmsted MP, Bohr Y, Garfinkel P. The eating attitudes test: Psychometric features and clinical correlates. Psychol Med 1982;12:871– 878. 8. Al-Subaie A, Al-Shammari S, Bamgboye E, Al-Sabhan K, Al-Shehri S, Bannah AR. Validity of the Arabic version of the eating attitudes test. Int J Eat Disord 1996;20:321–324. 9. Mousa TY, Al-Domi HA, Mashal RH, Jibri MA. Eating disturbances among adolescent school girls in Jordan. Appetite 2010;54:196–201. 10. Al-Subaie AS. Some correlations of dietary behavior in Saudi school girls. Int J Eat Disord 2000; 28: 242–246. 11. Rogers L, Resnick MD, Mitchell JE, Blum RW. The relationship between socioeconomic status and eating-disordered behaviors in a community sample of adolescent girls. Int J Eat Disord 1997;1:15–23. 12. BinZaal AA, Musaiger AO, D’Souza R. Dietary habits associated with obesity among adolescents in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Nutricion Hospitalaria 2009;24:437–444. 13. Musaiger AO, Al-Mannai M. Association between exposure to media and body weight concern among female university students in five Arab countries: A preliminary cross-cultural study. J Biosoc Sci 2013;12:1–8.
International Journal of Eating Disorders 47:8 898–900 2014
Copyright of International Journal of Eating Disorders is the property of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.
