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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Adolescent and Young Adult Psychiatry
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1459073

Disordered eating behaviors and associated factors among secondary school adolescents in Harar town, eastern Ethiopia: cross-sectional study

Provisionally accepted

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Adolescent eating disorders impair physical and mental development and are associated with poor health outcomes in adulthood. However, there is little research on disordered eating in Ethiopia, particularly in the study area. As a result, the purpose of this study is to examine disordered eating behaviors and associated factors in secondary school adolescents in the study area.: A school-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 1104 secondary school adolescents in Harar town from June 30 to July 15, 2022. Multistage cluster sampling was used, and data was collected using self-administered questionnaires. The eating attitude test-26 was used to assess disordered eating behaviors, and scores of 20 and above were considered to have disordered eating behaviors. A binary logistic regression analysis was done to identify factors associated with disordered eating behaviors and the statistical significance level was set at a pvalue of 0.05. Result: In this study, 28.37% [95% CI (25.73%, 31.16%)] of the adolescents had disordered eating behaviors. Being female [AOR = 1.81, 95% CI (1.29, 2.53)], being from a mother, attending technical school [AOR = 3.61, 95% CI: (1.85, 7.04)], and having a higher-educated father [AOR = 1.55, 95% CI: (1.02, 2.36)] were significantly associated with disordered eating behaviors. Furthermore, desire to lose weight [AOR = 2.09, 95% CI (1.49, 2.93)], smoking [AOR = 3.64, 95% CI (2.24, 5.91)], emotional problems [AOR = 1.7, 95% CI (1.14, 2.55)], and body image dissatisfaction [AOR = 0.96, 95% CI (0.94, 0.97)] were associated with disordered eating. Conclusion: In Harar, almost three out of ten secondary school adolescents had disordered eating behaviors. Personal, behavioral, and socio-demographic factors were associated with disordered eating. Since the prevalence of disordered eating is significant at the study site, all relevant stakeholders should have to develop appropriate interventions that target modifiable factors to reduce the burden.

    Keywords: Disordered eating attitude, Eating Disorder, unhealthy weight control behaviors, dieting, Binge eating

    Received: 03 Jul 2024; Accepted: 29 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Tekola, Regassa, Berhanu, Mandefro, Shawel, Kassa and Roba. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Abainash Tekola, Haramaya University, Harar, Ethiopia

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.