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5 - College Women and Eating Disorders

College Women and Eating Disorders

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WHICHEVER PICTURE YOU CHOSE WOULD HAVE LEAD YOU TO HERE. WHILE WE THINK THE TYPICAL LOOK OF SOMEONE WITH AN EATING DISORDER WOULD APPEAR SIGNIFICANTLY UNDERWEIGHT, THE TRUTH IS, THERE IS NO ONE LOOK, WEIGHT REQUIREMENT, OR STIGMA TO BE A DISORDERED EATER.
Eating disorders are classified as the silent killer for one of two reasons. For what's previously mentioned, they do not have a certain look about them. The severe cases of anorexia nervosa perhaps may fit the typical image of an emaciated body, but women of any size, shape, and color can have an eating disorder. Reason two follows closely along the coined term "silent epidemic" because without being spoken about, eating disorders can often go unnoticed, uncared for, and even undiagnosed. For whichever reason, awareness plays a key role to recognizing and treating eating disorders before they consume one's life.

HOW CAN THEY AFFECT YOUR BODY?

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ARE THERE CERTAIN COLLEGE WOMEN MORE PRONE TO EATING DISORDERS THAN OTHERS?
Ethnicity: Many studies explore the variances between eating disorder susceptibility and ethnicity. For Western culture, caucasian females have the highest rate of eating disorders in America, as well as ranking with the greatest levels of body dissatisfaction and self-esteem. On another spectrum, African American women have the least possibility for an eating disorder and and lowest levels for body dissatisfaction and self-esteem, because they are "less likely to adopt dominant cultural values regarding appearance, and support a general trend in the literature that has indicated ethno-cultural differences in body image, ideal body definitions, and vulnerability to the effect of mainstream media images on body image" (Wechsler et al., 52). As Wechsler explores the concept that he differences "as symbolic of the various ways women use their physical selves to confront the psychological consequences of these societal messages and socially imposed roles" (52).
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However, unlike the stigma that only white, upper class girls are starving themselves, studies now find that poor women and women of other ethnicities are having eating disorders at nearly equal numbers (Martin 29). What this means for America is that there is no longer a finger to point at a certain group or an easy route to target girls with eating disorders, when it has become a generational epidemic, where girls obsess over their body image and fitness rather than healthiness or happiness. While there may not be a stigma for ethnicity regarding eating disorders, studies suggest that through "[...] the adoption of white maledominant standards of beauty and the normative experiences of being scrutinized for one's appearances" (Wechsler, et al., 54) certainly dominate media, which in many cases is an influence of eating disorders. Families: Outside factors continue to dominate many of the symptoms for eating disorders. Familial characteristics, a cause that is far beyond personal control, has various ways in which it can affect eating disorders. Dickstein suggests numerous causes, such as young women striving for male approval from their father's wishes to pursue a traditional female role, and the "daddy" issues go farther from there. She goes on to speculate that "women who felt their fathers didn't think they were intelligent tended to desire slimmer bodies" (Dickstein 112). Parents with a high status can expect to find their daughters more prone to pursue success and slimness, as the parents tend to provide their children with the money to afford gym memberships or diet pills. 20% of bulimic women were victims of sexual abuse before they entered college, a considerable amount of those which occurred within their family. It is important for not only girls with eating disorders, but their supporters and others to understand that eating disorder can be developed from outside influences and is not merely a personal decision, but influenced by one's environment and past (Dickstein 113).

The photo features mother, Rebecca Jones (left), and her daughter. Rebecca has battled with anorexia since she was eleven years old, and because her periods stopped, she never believed she would be able to have children. However, she discovered she was pregnant at nineteen, and though still battling anorexia, managed to give birth to a very healthy baby girl. She encourages her daughter to eat as normal as possible, despite her being underweight. Now at 26 and still fighting, Rebecca's story made headlines as "Anorexic Mother Wears Her 7 Year-Old Daughter's Clothes." Her story signifies the drastic effects of eating disorders, and how even in a nation of obesity, eating habits should be monitored for those of any size (Briles).

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Greek Life: Peers play a larger role in how one not only perceives her body image, but also how she would handle dissatisfaction with her body image. For those girls who participate in Greek Life, "we see that sorority members have lower BMIs and are less likely to be obese or underweight. They are also more likely to have been diagnosed with AN [anorexia] or BN [bulimia], and are more likely to report that they are dieting, vomiting, and using laxatives and pills to lose weight" (Averett, et al., 4). In a study that examined the correlation between sorority membership and weight-related behaviors showed that those girls rejected during the rush process have lower self esteem than those in the sororities, who generally have higher self esteem. Those joining sororities find themselves in an environment where there is great societal pressure to be thin and conform to the standard. In comparison to females who do not participate in Greek life, sorority girls "have a 43% increase in probablity of developing bulimia, and a 39% increase of developing anorexia" (Averett, et al., 3).

Athletes: While athletes are more prone to eating disorders, female athletes in particular are more at risk to them because 32% of them employ a pathogenic weight-control technique. This percentage can increase if the female athlete's diets are unsupervised, and coaches should be sensitive to their athlete's needs by keeping an eye out for eating disorder symptoms, defining the appropriate weight for individualized sports, set reasonable goals if weight loss is necessary, monitor their weight loss, and aid them in establishing nutritional, sound diets (Nichols . Sports where a body image is more pressured are more susceptible to eating disorders, such as gymnastics, synchronized swimming, and long distance running, but that is not to say that other female sports are not just as likely. Nichols also states that eating disorders usually do not stem from only participating in a sport, but that there can be a combination of factors like social interaction, family, etc., that can lead to a disorder. Recognizing the likelihood of eating disorders within female athletes is important because without proper diagnosis, an athlete with an eating disorder can impair athletic ability, lead to injury, and in worse cases, death.

The information above is not in any way claiming that by associating with one of the groups would guarantee that one would develop an eating disorder. As with any diagnosis, there are more factors that lead to developing an eating disorder, and especially in this case, eating disorders are impossible to pin-point to any one influence. However, awareness to one's environment is vital to keep in mind as
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one makes decisions and takes advice.

WHAT IS BODY SHAMING AND WHO ARE THE VICTIMS?

What is body shaming? Body shaming is negative attitudes and stereotypes about someone's body type. The picture above demonstrates what some stereotypes are for a typical skinny or heavy woman, and as one can see, in either body type case the connotations are extremely negative. Body
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shaming can lead to a low self-esteem, and is harmful because it is the same concept as judging a book by its cover. These negative stereotypes can affect anyone, of any size, gender, ethnicity, ect..

SO WHAT NOW?

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