TRIGGER WARNING: EATING DISORDERS
Students are at a high risk of developing disordered eating habits during their years spent at college or university. The National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA) estimates that eating disorders are likely to begin between the ages of 18 and 24.
According to the Toledo Center for Eating Disorders, the conversation surrounding disordered eating remains rather taboo and is not commonly talked about among peers, or between universities and their students, because of the stigma surrounding them.
Carly Pacanowski, associate professor of nutrition and behavioral health and nutrition, at the university, has conducted research on body image and disordered eating habits with her research group Disordered Eating Delaware (DEDE). DEDE conducted a study using focus groups with sorority members and one-on-one interviews with female-identifying undergraduates. The topics covered in the focus groups and interviews included disordered eating, body image, social media use and university programming around disordered eating.
“We found out of all 39 participants, none had received any training on disordered eating since they had come to the University of Delaware,” Pacanowski said. “And they all believed that it was as important of a topic as the other topics that students received training on, like sexual assault and alcohol. Many of the students said that they knew their peers were engaging in disordered eating behaviors, but they might not feel comfortable or know how to talk about that with their peers.”
In 2006, The New York Times reported on the popularity and fear of the “freshman fifteen,” quoting first-year students who expressed fear of weight gain. The term suggests freshman students gain an average of fifteen pounds during the first year. However, the article references a study that suggests students gain an average of seven pounds. The fear of the freshman fifteen collectively remains prevalent on college campuses despiste its likely medical inaccuracy.
Eating disorders are clinically diagnosed and some doctors may use criteria from Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), published by the American Psychiatric Association. These disorders include anorexia Nervosa, bulimia Nervosa and binge eating disorder.
Healthline defines disordered eating as irregular eating behaviors such as over/under eating or feeling a sense of control over food is outside of diagnostic criteria. It also includes constant thoughts about food, body shape, body size and weight.
Pacanowski partnered with the university’s Center for Drug and Alcohol Studies for another study. The center disseminates an annual survey, the College Risk Behaviors Survey, which is randomly administered to 3,000 students and includes two brief screeners for probable eating disorders.
These screeners were included in the College Risk Behavior Survey in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022. In their analysis, the researchers grouped data from 2019 and 2020 to represent disordered eating prevalence prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and data from 2021 and 2022 to represent disordered eating prevalence after the onset of the pandemic.
“We found a significant increase in the prevalence of those scoring as likely having an eating disorder on both questionnaires after the onset of COVID,” Pacanowski said. “I mean, the prevalence went up dramatically with close to half of the students having probable disordered eating [using one screening instrument]. The other screening instrument was close to a third of students.”
Using the first screener, the percentages rose from 38.01% (prior to onset of COVID-19) to 48.70% (after the onset of COVID-19). Using the second screener, percentages rose from 22.82% (prior to onset of COVID-19) to 31.46% (after the onset of COVID-19).
With the introduction of drinking culture in college into students’ lives, many researchers find a distinct correlation between eating habits and alcohol consumption. A common practice seen among college women can be identified as “drunkorexia.” The Journal of American College Health defines this nonmedical term as someone who consciously skips meals to save calories for alcohol consumption, binge-drinking excessively to become sick and purge previous eaten food, and/or purposely restrict meals to become intoxicated quicker and through less calories.
While the university does not require training modules on disordered eating, the Nutrition Counseling, Research and Training Clinic (NCRTC) has three registered dietitians who provide medical nutrition therapy counseling.
Sharon Collison, one of the registered dietitians at the NCRTC and instructor of clinical nutrition at the university, specializes in disordered eating. Additionally, Collison is on the board of the local chapter for the National Alliance for Eating Disorders (NAED).
“Our mission is to help fight the stigma essentially associated with eating disorders, provide awareness and treatment,” Collison said. “And one thing we do is we provide free support groups for people with eating disorders and their caregivers.”
Currently, support groups are held Monday evenings in Wilmington.
“It’s free. There’s no charge,” Collison said. “And students could go, it would help them connect with people and find other resources for treatment, find out what therapists work with eating disorders and hear other people who struggle with eating disorders.”
This publication can be found here.
Comments