Body dissatisfaction (BD) is one of the strongest influencing factors of BE. The presence of BE in adolescents can be mostly accredited to major eating disorders such as BED and Bulimia, both prevalent in adolescents. To the best of our knowledge, no study has evaluated BE in Lebanese adolescents to this date.Ī study among Lebanese adults showed an association of BED with several already known BED correlates such as body dissatisfaction, anxiety, depression, sexual abuse, family history of BE and low self-esteem level. When focusing on Arabic-speaking adolescent populations, reporting of BE rates varied between 16.9 and 33% in two different samples of Jordanian adolescents, while it was 14% among adolescents in Oman. Other studies showed a BE rate of 4.9% among a Jordanian young adult population, while another study indicated a moderate reporting of BE varying between 16.9 and 24.9%, with severe BE between 6.4 and 13.2% among young UAE adults. However, those studies are relatively old and include a relatively small sample of young adults. When examining the Middle East, the risk of having an episode of BE was highest among Egyptian (1990, N = 218) and Kuwaiti populations (2013, N = 320, over 80% reported BE). The available literature related to BE in the Middle East in general and Lebanon specifically, is relatively scarce and/or outdated. BED is a common eating disorder among young adolescents, with a lifetime prevalence of 1.6%, followed by BN (0.9%) and AN (0.3%), and is prominent in girls. Unlike other eating disorders such as bulimia nervosa, no compensating behaviors to lose weight are identified, such as purging, over exercising, going on a severe diet or taking medications (diuretics or laxatives). This eating disorder is characterized by at least one episode of BE per week for at least 3 months. In the case of BED, the individual will suffer from multiple BE episodes, in association with feelings of distress, guilt and loss of control sensation during the episodes. This behavior could be observed in binge eating disorder (BED), bulimia nervosa (BN) and anorexia nervosa (AN) (binge/purge subtype). We hope that the study results will help clinicians in the screening and management of Binge Eating behaviors among Lebanese adolescents.īinge eating (BE), a manifestation of disordered eating, is defined as an uncontrolled consumption of large of quantities of food. Our study also showed that the Binge Eating Scale is an adapted and validated tool to be used among Lebanese adolescents for the assessment of binge eating. The results showed that higher body dissatisfaction, higher depression, vomiting to lose weight and starving to lose weight were significantly associated with more binge eating. We hope this tool will be a reliable one to be used in epidemiological studies and research about eating behaviors/disorders. More body dissatisfaction, lower self-esteem, increased depressive symptoms were associated with more binge eating. The Arabic Version of the BES scale seems to be a reliable tool to be used in Lebanese adolescents for the assessment of binge eating. Higher self-esteem was significantly associated with less binge eating. The results of a linear regression, taking the binge eating score as the dependent variable, showed that higher body dissatisfaction, more alcohol use disorder, higher depression, vomiting to lose weight and starving to lose weight were significantly associated with more binge eating. ResultsĪ confirmatory factor analysis revealed that the one-factorial model fits the data best. The Binge Eating Scale was used to screen for the presence/absence of binge eating. MethodsĪ cross-sectional study conducted between May and June 2020, enrolling 555 adolescents between the ages of 15–18 years old from all Lebanese governorates. The objectives of this study were to (1) validate the Binge Eating Scale (BES) for use in Lebanese adolescents, and (2) assess correlates of binge eating behavior among this population. The available literature in the Middle East in general, and Lebanon specifically, is relatively scarce and/or outdated. Binge eating disorder is a common eating disorder among the adolescent population.