Not just a western girls' problem: eating attitudes among Israeli-Arab adolescent boys and girls

Figures & data

Table 1 Clinical characteristics: BMI and dieting behaviour by gender.

	p value	Boys	Girls
Have you ever dieted? Yes (%)	< 0.000	18.6	39.4
Currently dieting? Yes (%)	< 0.000	16.8	36.2
BMI (mean ± standard deviation)	NS	20.81 ± 4.35	20.04 ± 3.38

Table 2 Percentage of positive EAT-26 scores ( < 20) by religious affiliation, residential setting, and gender.

	Boys (%)	Girls (%)
Religious affiliation
Muslims	38.7	61.3
Christians	44	56
Residential setting
Rural	44.2	55.8
Urban	31.7	68.3

Table 3 Means and standard deviations of eating attitudes (total EAT-26 score) by religious affiliation, residential setting, and gender.

Religious affiliation	Muslims (n = 300)	Christians (n = 26)	p value
Boys (n = 127)	9.15 ± 10.71	10.38 ± 12.34	NS
Girls (n = 199)	10.87 ± 12.0	11.64 ± 9.13	NS
p value	>0.0020	NS
Residential setting	Village/rural (n = 181)	Urban/city (n = 145)
Boys (n = 127)	9.25 ± 11.21	9.28 ± 10.38	NS
Girls (n = 199)	10.11 ± 11.30	12.01 ± 12.5	>0.02
p value	NS	>0.0013