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Eating Disorders Colleges and universities around the country are reporting an increased prevalence of eating problems among young female students. Difficulties include obsession with food, starvation dieting, severe weight loss, obesity, and compulsive binge eating, often followed by self-induced vomiting (Hesse-Biber, 1989, p. ... What are the reasons for eating disorders among college-aged women? ... The reasons for difficulties around the issues of food and eating are myriad and complex. ... In her book, Anatomy of a Food Addiction, author Anne Katherine calls eating the "great escape" and pinpoints the vulnerabilities of women to childhood origins (1991, p. ... Katherine describes this strong drive for eating in terms of Maslows hierarchy of needs--safety and security come far before appearance and artistic taste. ... Most people who suffer from eating disorders have severe, long-term deprivation in regard to their emotional needs. ... Student support services may not contribute any help to the student who has eating difficulties (Whitaker, 1989, p. ... Living in a dorm or apartment with other college individuals means getting along with others, withstanding the normal comings and goings as students leave school, and such a situation carries within it all the dynamics that contribute to problem eating. ... 5 Several researchers trace difficulties with food and eating to problems in the female students family of origin. ... " Such a dynamic is troublesome for the young woman, and she develops poor eating habits as a way of exerting some control in a difficult family that is enmeshed and poorly differentiated. ... fears experienced not only in connection with eating or not eating but also in other social situations. ... One study shows that students with eating disorders are likely to come from dysfunctional families but raises the question about why some people adapt to such stress in other ways and do not become overeaters or undereaters. The severity of the eating difficulty was apparently not related to the severity of the family disturbance (Stieger, Liquornik, Chapman, & Hussain, 1991, p. ... Apparently this area deserves more research to determine the more exact relationships between types of family problems and the resulting eating disorders. One group of college women participated in a college study which found that those with eating disorders rated higher on body dissatisfaction, drive for thinness, child-like nature, and low self-esteem (Beren & Chrisler, 1990, p. ... However, the study did not find any relationship between any particular personality type and eating disordered behavior. The tests used for the 7 study were the Eating Disorders Inventory, the Texas Social Behavior Inventory, the Social Desirability Scale, and the Bem Sex-Role Inventory. Another study examined the degree to which the eight subscales of the Eating Disorders Inventory compared with the MMPI (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory). This particular study, as others reported, found that female university students who had eating difficulties tended to also have complaints of anxiety, depression, and other symptoms (Anderson & Meshot, 1992, p. 253) Some writers suggest that the prevalence of eating disorders among female college students is not a new phenomenon but one that is receiving wider recognition because students are more open about psychological matters (Grayson & Medalie, 1989, p.
Approximate Word count = 2482
Approximate Pages = 9.9
(250 words per page double spaced)
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