Disordered Eating in College Freshman Women: A Prospective Study

The authors assessed eating behaviors and attitudes of 225 college freshman women on the bulimia and restraint scales at the beginning of the year. Seven months later, they reassessed 104 of the original students. Concurrent data regression analyses found that symptoms of eating pathology were associated with figure dissatisfaction, ineffectiveness, public self-consciousness, and vigor on the Profile of Mood States, and for bulimia, self-efficacy to control eating when experiencing negative feelings, and reward conditions. Both bulimia and restraint were highly stable across the 7 months. Prospective analyses, controlling for the initial level of eating pathology in hierarchical regressions, found that figure dissatisfaction, ineffectiveness, and alcohol use/abuse over the past year were significant predictors of worsening symptoms. Beginning levels of bulimia and restraint were the best predictors of eating pathology at the end of the study. The roles that self-image and alcohol use may play as vulnerabilities for eating pathology are also considered. Key Words: body image, bulimia, college students, eating pathology
Prospective studies are highly advantageous in attempting to identify the causes of maladaptive eating attitudes and behaviors. Relatively few longitudinal studies have been completed, despite widespread reports of the prevalence [...]