To describe the eating behaviour styles of Irish teens and to explore the relationships between demographic factors, BMI and dietary intake and these eating behaviour styles.

Cross-sectional data from the Irish National Teens’ Food Survey (2005–2006). The Dutch Eating Behaviour Questionnaire assessed three eating behaviour styles in teens: restrained, emotional and external eating. Data were stratified by sex and age groups.

The Republic of Ireland.

Nationally representative sample of teens aged 13–17 years (n 441).

The highest scoring eating behaviour style was external eating (2·83 external v. 1·79 restraint and 1·84 emotional). Girls scored higher than boys on all three scales (Restraint: 2·04 v. 1·56, P < 0·001, Emotional: 2·15 v. 1·55, P < 0·001 and External: 2·91 v. 2·76, P = 0·03), and older teens scored higher than younger teens on the Emotional (1·97 v. 1·67, P < 0·001) and External scales (2·91 v. 2·72, P = 0·01). Teens classified as overweight/obese scored higher than those classified as normal weight on the Restraint scale (2·15 v. 1·71, P < 0·001) and lower on the External scale (2·67 v. 2·87, P < 0·03). Daily energy intake was negatively correlated with the Restraint (r −0·343, P < 0·001) and Emotional scales (r −0·137, P = 0·004) and positively correlated with the External scale (r 0·110, P = 0·02).

External eating is the predominant eating behaviour style among Irish teens, but sex, age, BMI and dietary differences exist for each eating behaviour style. Including measures of eating behaviour styles into future dietary research could help understand both how and why as well as what people eat.

To determine the nutrition transition stage of female Jordanian college students.

A cross-sectional survey was used to assess eating styles, disordered eating attitudes and behaviours, body esteem and dissatisfaction, and media influence.

Public and private universities in Jordan.

A total of 255 subjects were recruited through a government-initiated youth campaign.

The majority of participants had a normal BMI (70·6 %) with almost all (99·4 %) reporting restrained eating behaviour. Scores on the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26) indicated that 45·2 % of these female college students should be screening for eating disorders. Subscales of the Body Esteem Scale (BES) showed that these women did not have substantial body esteem issues and mean scores on the Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire (SATAQ-3) indicated that overall these women did not feel the media was dictating the way their body should look. Where Jordanian women did feel pressure from Western media, there was a 6·7-fold increase in the likelihood that they wanted to lose weight. In addition, 48·2 % of the female college students desired to lose weight and 14·4 % desired weight gain, indicating a certain level of body dissatisfaction.

With low levels of overweight and obesity and a propensity towards eating based on external hunger cues, college-aged Jordanian women may be less advanced in their development through the nutrition transition than the general population of women. However, high levels of restrained eating and disordered eating attitudes and behaviours indicate the need for an intervention to address healthy weight-loss strategies, assess eating disorders and help maintain healthy body esteem.