Eating disorder symptoms among undergraduate and graduate students at 12 U.S. colleges and universities.
Eat Behav
; 24: 81-88, 2017 01.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-28040637
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES:
We sought to estimate the prevalence of eating disorder symptoms in a large sample of U.S. college students and variations therein across student characteristics.METHODS:
Participants were 9713 students from 12 colleges and universities participating in the Healthy Bodies Study. We used gender-stratified logistic regression to estimate bivariate correlates of elevated eating disorder symptoms, past-month objective binge eating, and past-month compensatory behaviors across student characteristics including age, degree-level, sexual orientation, race/ethnicity, first-generation status, citizenship, academic and extracurricular characteristics, and weight status. Eating disorder outcomes were based on the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire.RESULTS:
We observed higher prevalence of objective binge eating among females relative to males (49% versus 30%, p<0.001), but similar prevalence of compensatory behaviors (31% versus 29%). Weight status was the most consistent predictor of eating disorder risk with significantly more symptoms seen among individuals with overweight and obesity. When compared to individuals with a healthy weight, those with overweight had greater eating disorder risk (males OR=3.5; females OR=2.0), binge eating (males OR=2.1; females OR=1.9), and use of compensatory behaviors (males OR=1.5; females OR=1.3).CONCLUSIONS:
This study suggests smaller gender difference in prevalence of eating disorder symptoms than previously reported and identifies students with overweight/obesity as salient targets for campus-based eating disorder screening and early intervention efforts.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Students
/
Feeding and Eating Disorders
Type of study:
Diagnostic_studies
/
Prevalence_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
/
Qualitative_research
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Adolescent
/
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Language:
En
Journal:
Eat Behav
Journal subject:
CIENCIAS DA NUTRICAO
/
CIENCIAS DO COMPORTAMENTO
Year:
2017
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
United States
Country of publication:
EEUU
/
ESTADOS UNIDOS
/
ESTADOS UNIDOS DA AMERICA
/
EUA
/
UNITED STATES
/
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
/
US
/
USA