The associations of sociocultural attitudes towards appearance with body dissatisfaction and eating behaviors in Hong Kong adolescents

•Physical, external and emotional eating are common in Hong Kong adolescents.•Body dissatisfaction and disordered eating are more prevalent in girls than boys.•The sociocultural factors influence on both body image and eating disturbance.•The results in Hong Kong adolescents support the nutrition transition model.

ObjectivesWestern culture has great influences on body dissatisfaction and related eating behaviors in adolescents. This study aimed to assess the sociocultural influences on eating attitudes and motivations among Hong Kong Chinese adolescents.MethodsIn 2007, 909 adolescents (mean age = 14.7 years, 55.3% boys) completed a survey with Stunkard's Figure Rating Scale (FRS), Motivation for Eating Scale (MFES), Eating Attitudes Test (EAT), Revised Restraint Scale (RRS), and Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Scale (SATAQ). In addition, their body mass index (BMI) was objectively measured.ResultsOur results indicated that Hong Kong adolescents, particularly girls exhibited a remarked level of body dissatisfaction, external, emotional, restrained and disordered eating behaviors. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that age, sex and BMI were the most common contributing factors to individual eating styles. SATAQ significantly accounted for an additional variance of body dissatisfaction (2%), physical eating (2%), external eating (1%), emotional eating (3%), restrained eating (5%), and disordered eating (5%).ConclusionsIn Hong Kong, the sociocultural influences on body image and eating disturbance were supported.