THE PREVALENCE OF DISTURBANCES OF EATING BEHAVIOR IN A PORTUGUESE FEMALE UNIVERSITY POPULATION

This paper reports the results of a questionnaire constructed to ident ify the prevalence of bulimia nervosa (BN), binge eating and other man ifestations of concern with body and shape and habits of consumption o f alcohol, tobacco and illicit drugs among female university students in Lisbon. It was sent out to 1542 subjects and responses from 50.1 pe r cent were obtained. Among those students who responded, 55.1 per cen t desired to lose weight, 25 per cent reported weight fluctuations in the previous year, 12 per cent were dieting at that moment and 48.8 pe r cent had been on a diet before. The prevalence of BN was 3 per cent and 13.2 per cent of subjects reported at least two binge eating episo des per week (binge-eaters). Bulimics and binge-eaters were heavier, w anted to lose more weight, had used diets before more frequently, and reported ponderal oscillations more frequently than controls. They als o reported more frequent consumption of alcohol, tobacco and illicit d rugs than controls, but this is not statistically significant.