Associations between bullying and risk for eating disorders in adolescents

to analyze the associations between bullying participation profiles (victims, bullies, and bully-victims) and the risk for eating disorders in adolescents.

Methods:

a cross-sectional study was conducted with 491 students, aged 10 to 18 years. Data were collected through the application of the Peer Victimization and Aggression Scale and the Eating Attitudes Test, and were statistically analyzed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Spearman correlation.

Results:

the risk for eating disorders was higher for the victim profile, both for boys and girls. For both sexes, physical victimization, verbal victimization, and relational victimization were significantly associated with variables related to the risk for eating disorders. For boys, there were also significant associations related to aggression.

Conclusions:

student victims, especially boys, are more vulnerable to the consequences of bullying in relation to the risk for eating disorders.

Descriptors:
Bullying; Feeding and Eating Disorders; Adolescent; Risk; Association

	Victim (n = 67)		Victim-bully (n = 144)		Bully (n = 89)		Non-involved (n = 191)
	n	%	n	%	n	%	n	%
Risk for eating disorder
Yes	28	41.8	38	26.4	28	31.5	32	16.8
No	39	58.2	106	73.6	61	68.5	159	83.2
Risk for eating disorder by gender
Boys	12	42.9	9	23.7	11	39.3	9	28.1
Girls	16	57.1	29	76.3	17	60.7	23	71.9

	Victim (n = 67)		Victim-bully (n = 144)		Bully (n = 89)		Non-involved (n = 191)		Anova
	Mean	SD	Mean	SD	Mean	SD	Mean	SD	F	p value
Total EAT
Boys	20.4	13.8	12.5	9.0	13.6	8.1	10.7	8.2	7.6	<0.001
Girls	19.3	9.6	17.4	9.6	17.6	9.6	13.8	9.7	4.3	0.005
Diet
Boys	9.5	8.2	6.2	6.0	6.7	6.2	5.1	5.0	3.8	0.011
Girls	9.3	6.6	9.1	6.8	8.7	7.1	7.0	6.3	2.1	0.101
Oral control
Boys	6.7	4.8	4.3	3.6	4.4	3.1	4.0	3.5	3.8	0.010
Girls	5.9	4.5	4.7	3.5	5.7	3.7	4.3	3.5	2.5	0.057
Bulimia and food preoccupation
Boys	4.2	3.3	2.0	2.1	2.4	2.2	1.6	1.9	9.6	<0.001
Girls	4.1	3.0	3.6	3.0	3.3	2.8	2.5	2.7	4.1	0.007

	Physical victimization	Verbal victimization	Relational victimization	Physical aggression	Verbal aggression	Relational aggression
Total EAT
Boys	0.275^**	0.230^**	0.300^**	0.233^**	0.089	0.211^**
Girls	0.141^* * *p<0.001;	0.227^**	0.146^* * *p<0.001;	0.024	0.103	0.101
Diet
Boys	0.225^**	0.146^* * *p<0.001;	0.274^**	0.198^**	0.023	0.182^**
Girls	0.155^**	0.136^* * *p<0.001;	0.023	0.058	0.065	0.073
Oral control
Boys	0.217^**	0.165^* * *p<0.001;	0.173^* * *p<0.001;	0.174^* * *p<0.001;	0.030	0.103
Girls	0.042	0.156^**	0.172^**	0.090	0.088	0.076
Bulimia and food preoccupation
Boys	0.184^**	0.276^**	0.223^**	0.149^* * *p<0.001;	0.174^* * *p<0.001;	0.194^**
Girls	0.120^* * *p<0.001;	0.207^**	0.181^**	0.073	0.040	0.073

Associação Brasileira de Enfermagem SGA Norte Quadra 603 Conj. "B" - Av. L2 Norte 70830-102 Brasília, DF, Brasil, Tel.: (55 61) 3226-0653, Fax: (55 61) 3225-4473 - Brasília - DF - Brazil
E-mail: reben@abennacional.org.br

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[1] Corresponding author: Priscilla dos Reis Oliveira, E-mail: priscilla.oliveira2@hotmail.com