Large Epidemiological Study on Eating Disorders and Risk Factors of Junior High School Students: Compared with Five Years Ago

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15H03088
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Applied health science
• Research Institution: International University of Health and Welfare
• Principal Investigator: KOMAKI Gen 国際医療福祉大学, 福岡保健医療学部, 教授 (70225564)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 前田 基成 女子美術大学, 芸術学部, 教授(移行) (40259263) ; 東條 光彦 岡山大学, 教育学研究科(研究院), 准教授 (70241982)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 思春期 / 食行動 / 睡眠 / ネット依存 / 摂食障害 / 過食 / 中学生

Outline of Final Research Achievements

An increase in the number of teenagers with eating disorders has recently been reported. However, community-based data is minimally available. We assess the five year change between 2010 and 2015 in the prevalence of factors related to the eating disorders of junior high school students living in two municipalities; City A in an urban area and City B in countryside. We used EDE-Q and 22 questionnaire items generally related to the risk factors for eating disorders. The mean prevalence of the behaviors of all participants that scored 4.0 or higher of EDE-Q increased. However, in contrast to City B, City A showed significant increases for almost all the subscales, along with an increase in the prevalence rate of the items related to the risk factors. In addition, poorer sleep rhythm staying up till late at night and internet addiction tendency were observed. The results indicate that the increase in prevalence may be related to stronger psychological stress and poorer sleep rhythm.

Free Research Field

心身医学