Eating disorder literacy and stigmatising attitudes towards anorexia, bulimia and binge eating disorder among adolescents

ABSTRACT

Little research has investigated adolescents’ understanding of eating disorders (EDs) or attitudes towards people affected by EDs. This impedes the development of targeted health promotion interventions. In the current study, 290 adolescents viewed a vignette depicting a target with either anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, Depression or Type 1 Diabetes. Subsequent questionnaires assessed understanding of and attitudes towards the disorder described. Adolescents recognised the symptoms of depression significantly more frequently than any ED. Relative to depression and Type 1 diabetes, participants held targets with EDs more personally responsible for their illness and ascribed them more negative personality characteristics. The data revealed a particularly unfavourable view of binge eating disorder, which was conceptualised as a failure of self-discipline rather than a medical condition. The results confirm previous findings that EDs are more stigmatised than other mental or physical health conditions and extend the findings to an adolescent cohort.

KEYWORDS:

• Eating disorders
• anorexia nervosa
• bulimia nervosa
• binge eating disorder
• stigma
• attitudes
• adolescents

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. The survey also included measures of participant's personal experiences with EDs, their own eating concerns, and their typical help-seeking patterns. These data are discussed elsewhere (McNicholas, O'Connor, McNamara, & O'Hara, in press).

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by the St John of God Hospitaller Services Research Grant Scheme, Grant Ref. 512.