Asena Akdemir

Validity and Reliability of a Turkish Version of the Body Shape Questionnaire Among Female High School Students: Preliminary Examination

The aim of this study is to assess the validity and reliability of a Turkish version of the Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ) among young people. The BSQ was initially administrated to female high school students (N = 665) and administered a second time to a subset of subjects (N = 144). The subjects also completed the Eating Attitudes Test, the Body Image Satisfaction Questionnaire (a dieting questionnaire) and the Hopkins Symptom Checklist (SCL-90), and were weighed, and their body mass indices were calculated. Test-retest reliability of the BSQ was 0.81. The BSQ score correlated highly with the Eating Attitudes Test, Body Image Satisfaction Questionnaire and the Hopkins Symptom Checklist. Higher BSQ scores were also associated with higher body mass index. The results suggest that the Turkish version of BSQ is a valid and reliable tool for assessing body image concerns in teenagers.

The prevalence and clinical features of the night eating syndrome in psychiatric out-patient population

OBJECTIVE In this study we aimed to investigate the prevalance and clinical correlations of night eating syndrome (NES) in a sample of psychiatric outpatients. METHOD Four hundred thirthy three consecutive psychiatric out-patients older than 18years were evaluated in the outpatient clinics using clinical interview according to the DSM-IV with regard to psychiatric diagnosis. Participants were also screened for presence of NES utilizing both clinical interview and self report based on Night Eating Questionnaire (NEQ) instruments. Sociodemographic and clinical features such as age, gender, education level, socioeconomic level and body mass index (BMI) were also recorded. The Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ) and the Symptom Checklist-90 Revised (SCL-90R) were administered. RESULTS Based on the proposed diagnostic criteria of the NES via utilizing clinical interview method, 97 (32 male, 65 female) of the sample met diagnostic criteria for NES. The point prevalence of NES was 22.4%. No statistically significant differences were found between the two groups in terms of age, gender, marital status, education and BMI. The patients with NES had higher NEQ, BSQ and SCL-90R subscale scores than patients without NES. Prevalance of depressive disorder, impulse control disorder, and nicotine dependency was higher among patients with NES. No differences were found with regard to the medication (antipsychotics, antidepressants and mood stabilizers). CONCLUSION Night eating syndrome is prevalent among psychiatric outpatients and associated with depression, impulse control disorder, and nicotine dependency. Body dissatisfaction and higher symptom severity are also other risk factors for the development of NES.