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Assessment of Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behaviors toward Eating Disorders among Adolescents in Italy

The objectives of this survey were to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors toward eating disorders among adolescents in Italy. The survey was undertaken between May and June 2017 among a random sample of 420 adolescents aged 14–20 years. Data were collected through a self-administered ques...

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Autores principales: Napolitano, Francesco, Bencivenga, Francesco, Pompili, Erika, Angelillo, Italo Francesco
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6518148/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31022867
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16081448
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author Napolitano, Francesco
Bencivenga, Francesco
Pompili, Erika
Angelillo, Italo Francesco
author_facet Napolitano, Francesco
Bencivenga, Francesco
Pompili, Erika
Angelillo, Italo Francesco
author_sort Napolitano, Francesco
collection PubMed
description The objectives of this survey were to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors toward eating disorders among adolescents in Italy. The survey was undertaken between May and June 2017 among a random sample of 420 adolescents aged 14–20 years. Data were collected through a self-administered questionnaire. Only 22.8% correctly knew both the definition of anorexia and bulimia nervosa. Female, overweight or obese individuals, and who had at least one parent with a college degree or higher level of education were more likely to have this knowledge. More than one third (38.8%) had a fear of getting fat. Female, overweight or obese individuals, who did not know the definition of anorexia and bulimia nervosa, who avoided eating when they were hungry, and who always and usually were engaged in dieting behavior were more likely to have a fear of getting fat. Only 10.1% and 11.9% always and usually were engaged in dieting behavior, and 40.8% never did so. Respondents who usually/always had a strong desire to be thinner and who had a fear of getting fat were more likely to be engaged in dieting behavior. There is an urgent need to inform Italian adolescents about eating disorders, and healthcare workers may play a crucial role in distributing eating disorder-related knowledge.
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spelling pubmed-65181482019-05-31 Assessment of Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behaviors toward Eating Disorders among Adolescents in Italy Napolitano, Francesco Bencivenga, Francesco Pompili, Erika Angelillo, Italo Francesco Int J Environ Res Public Health Article The objectives of this survey were to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors toward eating disorders among adolescents in Italy. The survey was undertaken between May and June 2017 among a random sample of 420 adolescents aged 14–20 years. Data were collected through a self-administered questionnaire. Only 22.8% correctly knew both the definition of anorexia and bulimia nervosa. Female, overweight or obese individuals, and who had at least one parent with a college degree or higher level of education were more likely to have this knowledge. More than one third (38.8%) had a fear of getting fat. Female, overweight or obese individuals, who did not know the definition of anorexia and bulimia nervosa, who avoided eating when they were hungry, and who always and usually were engaged in dieting behavior were more likely to have a fear of getting fat. Only 10.1% and 11.9% always and usually were engaged in dieting behavior, and 40.8% never did so. Respondents who usually/always had a strong desire to be thinner and who had a fear of getting fat were more likely to be engaged in dieting behavior. There is an urgent need to inform Italian adolescents about eating disorders, and healthcare workers may play a crucial role in distributing eating disorder-related knowledge. MDPI 2019-04-24 2019-04 /pmc/articles/PMC6518148/ /pubmed/31022867 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16081448 Text en © 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Napolitano, Francesco
Bencivenga, Francesco
Pompili, Erika
Angelillo, Italo Francesco
Assessment of Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behaviors toward Eating Disorders among Adolescents in Italy
title Assessment of Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behaviors toward Eating Disorders among Adolescents in Italy
title_full Assessment of Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behaviors toward Eating Disorders among Adolescents in Italy
title_fullStr Assessment of Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behaviors toward Eating Disorders among Adolescents in Italy
title_full_unstemmed Assessment of Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behaviors toward Eating Disorders among Adolescents in Italy
title_short Assessment of Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behaviors toward Eating Disorders among Adolescents in Italy
title_sort assessment of knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors toward eating disorders among adolescents in italy
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6518148/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31022867
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16081448
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