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Objective: College students who are members of groups in which appearance and alcohol norms are highly salient may be at particular risk for engaging in food and alcohol disturbance (FAD) behaviors. This study compared demographically-matched sorority- and non-sorority members on FAD and associated behaviors. Participants: College women who self-identified as being in a sorority (n = 95) were matched with non-sorority peers (n = 95) on age, body mass index (BMI), ethnicity, and race. Methods: Participants completed an online survey assessing alcohol use, eating disorder symptoms, appearance-related peer pressure, FAD behaviors, and demographic information. Mann-Whitney "U" tests and generalized linear models tested hypotheses. Results: Sorority members reported more alcohol use and FAD behaviors; however, after controlling for year in school, alcohol use, and eating disorder symptoms, Greek status no longer predicted FAD behaviors. Conclusions: Differences in FAD behaviors across sorority- and non-sorority women were due to differences in alcohol consumption.

Objective: This study investigated the association between self-identified athlete status and Food and Alcohol Disturbance (FAD) behaviors, and whether this association was moderated by drives for thinness or muscularity, and sex. Participants: 575 individuals (77.6% female, 40.0% identifying as athletes) recruited from a large southeastern university. Methods: Participants completed online measures of athletic identity, drives for muscularity and thinness, FAD behaviors, and demographic variables. Results: Compared to non-athletes, male athletes with higher drive for muscularity endorsed more alcohol effects behaviors; female athletes endorsed the inverse relationship. Higher drive for thinness was associated with more diet and exercise behaviors among all participants, and extreme weight control behaviors among athletes. Conclusions: Athlete status moderated the associations between drives for thinness/muscularity and FAD Alcohol Effects and Extreme Weight Control Behaviors. Regardless of athlete status, college students with higher drive for thinness are at risk for engaging in more FAD Diet & Exercise behaviors.

College student athletes are at risk for mental health difficulties. Athletic identity – the degree of strength and exclusivity to which a person identifies with the athletic role – is associated with health risk behaviors and mental health concerns broadly among student athletes. Given a variety of barriers to college athletes disclosing mental health difficulties, measuring athletic identity may be an indirect way to screen athletes for being at-risk for mental health concerns. The current study examined the factor structure of an increasingly popular measure of athletic identity (the AIMS-Plus) across two samples of self-identified athletes (Nstudy1 = 201; 60.2% male; 61.19% White; 21.39% Hispanic; NStudy2 = 175; 45.29% male; 70.86% White; 20.57% Hispanic) to offer a peer-reviewed validation of the measure. Results suggest that the factor structure of the AIMS-Plus was not supported; however, both a modified version of the AIMS-Plus (the AIMS-Plus-R) and the 7-item AIMS may be acceptable. Continued work refining measures of athletic identity is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Body talk among adolescent females has been associated with negative outcomes, including depressed mood, disordered eating, and body dissatisfaction. Yet, little work has investigated the manifestation of body talk in actual conversations between adolescent females or explored pathways through which body talk is spread (e.g., co-rumination). The present study examined body talk among adolescent female dyads (N = 23 dyads) ages 13 to 17 (M age = 15.12) using an observational design. Reciprocally nominated dyads were recruited from a high school in the southeastern United States. Conversations between dyads were qualitatively coded using an applied thematic analysis approach. Identified themes were related to weight, appearance, and personality. Results provide insight into the social context in which sociocultural norms of weight stigma, body dissatisfaction, and eating-related psychopathology may be reinforced. Findings have implications for informing the development of interventions to reduce co-rumination of negative weight- and appearance-related body talk and to promote positive body image and healthy weight among adolescent girls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

College student athletes are at risk for mental health difficulties. Athletic identity – the degree of strength and exclusivity to which a person identifies with the athletic role – is associated with health risk behaviors and mental health concerns broadly among student athletes. Given a variety of barriers to college athletes disclosing mental health difficulties, measuring athletic identity may be an indirect way to screen athletes for being at-risk for mental health concerns. The current study examined the factor structure of an increasingly popular measure of athletic identity (the AIMS-Plus) across two samples of self-identified athletes (Nstudy1 = 201; 60.2% male; 61.19% White; 21.39% Hispanic; NStudy2 = 175; 45.29% male; 70.86% White; 20.57% Hispanic) to offer a peer-reviewed validation of the measure. Results suggest that the factor structure of the AIMS-Plus was not supported; however, both a modified version of the AIMS-Plus (the AIMS-Plus-R) and the 7-item AIMS may be acceptable. Continued work refining measures of athletic identity is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]