Gender differences, personality and eating behaviors in non-clinical adolescents.

Few studies have focused on the relationship between personality trait and eating behaviors in a normal sample of adolescents. The purpose of this research was to examine differences between male and female non-clinical adolescents in eating behaviors, personality traits and state and trait anxiety and to verify the relationship between personality traits, anxiety and eating behaviors in males and females. 592 individuals (324 male and 267 females) were selected. Participants were asked to fill: Eating Disorder Inventory-2 (EDI-2), State-Training Anxiety Inventory (STAI - Forma Y) and Eysenck Personality Questionnaire - Revised (EPQ-R). The results highlighted specific differences in eating behaviors and in personality traits between genders. No statistical differences in anxiety were found. Our results underline the importance of focussing on anxiety levels for girls, while, for boys, on personality traits such as neuroticism and psychoticism. It was confirmed the opinion that, to prevent eating disorders, not only is it necessary to carry out a campaign based on proper nutrition, but also to investigate thoroughly aspects of personality that may be predictive of these disorders.

Correlation between digestive disease and psychiatric disease: casual or causal implication?

The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of psychiatric disturbances among patients affected with digestive diseases (both organic and functional) and, viceversa, the prevalence of digestive disturbances among patients with psychiatric diseases. We performed a trasversal study on: 100 patients with organic digestive diseases and 100 patients with functional digestive diseases afferent from a Gastroenterologic Ambulatory (gastroenterologic group); 50 patients afferent from a Psychiatry Service (psychiatric group) and 50 patients afferent from a General Medicine Ambulatory affected with a non gastroenterologic active problem (control group). Each patient underwent an anamnestic, laboratory and instrumental evaluation, in order to ascertain or exclude the presence of digestive symptoms and their eventual organic basis; moreover, a semistructured interview was performed aimed at identifying a psychiatric disturbance, according to DSM-IIIr criteria. Our results showed a significantly higher prevalence: 1) of psychiatric disturbances, in the gastroentorologic group versus the control group (p<0.001), especially of somatoform (p<0.05) and anxious (p<0.001) disorders; 2) of psychiatric disturbances among patients affected by functional digestive disorders versus patients affected by organic digestive disorders; 3) of gastroenterologic disorders, in the psychiatric group versus the control group (p<0.001), with a significantly higher prevalence of functional gastroenterologic syndromes in comparison the organic ones (p<0.001). The well-established bidirectional correlation between digestive functional and psychiatric disorders is a necessary but not sufficient condition to state a relationship of direct causality between the two syndromes; however we can hypothesize that the well documented neuro-hormonal alterations may cause, on clinical grounds different symptoms, that are differently interpreted by the different specialists (gastroenterologists or psychiatrists) consulted.