ABSTRACT
A two-stage epidemiologic strategy was used to estimate the lifetime prevalence of selected DSM-III-defined psychiatric disorders in a county-wide secondary school population (N = 5596). Screening tests used in the first stage included items based on DSM-III criteria for eating disorders and panic disorder, as well as the Leyton Obsessional Inventory-Child Version and the Beck Depression Inventory. Based on interviews (n = 356) by clinicians in the second stage, the lifetime prevalence of anorexia nervosa was 0.2%; bulimia, 2.5%; panic disorder, 0.6%; obsessive-compulsive disorder, 1.9%; major depression, 4.0%; dysthymic disorder, 4.9%; and generalized anxiety disorder, 3.7%. While rates of mental health service utilization varied greatly by diagnosis, only 41% of students who were assigned both a diagnosis and a rating of impairment had received any kind of clinical attention.
Subject(s)
Mental Disorders/diagnosis , Adolescent , Age Factors , Anxiety Disorders/diagnosis , Anxiety Disorders/epidemiology , Community Mental Health Services/statistics & numerical data , Feeding and Eating Disorders/diagnosis , Feeding and Eating Disorders/epidemiology , Female , Humans , Male , Mental Disorders/epidemiology , New Jersey , Panic , Personality Inventory , Prevalence , Psychiatric Status Rating ScalesABSTRACT
Ninety-one per cent of a county-wide high school population (N = 5596) completed the Eating Symptoms Inventory (ESI) and the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT). Being female, older and heavier are far more strongly associated with anorexic and bulimic symptoms than is social class. ESI approximations of the DSM-III criteria for anorexia nervosa or bulimia suggest that while both conditions are rare (less than 1%), bulimia is the more prevalent disorder.
