Browsing by Subject "Eating disorder"
Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
Results Per Page
Sort Options
Item Open Access Exploring Relationships with Food, Body, and Exercise at an Elite University: Determinants of Patterns of Disordered Eating(2022-05-15) Reuben, AllessandraDiet culture, or the pervasive and far-reaching societal norms that emphasize thinness and control over one’s diet and exercise, tends to become even more pervasive during transition periods, such as when one leaves home to attend college. In this pursuit of thinness, adolescent women are at great risk of developing subsequent patterns of disordered eating. There are also correlates to disordered eating that are well established by the time one transitions to college. Therefore, I examined the associations between membership at an elite university and eating behaviors, particularly trying to understand the mediating factor(s) between undergraduate students and patterns of disordered eating, and how those early developed eating behaviors persist as the individuals enter college. The findings show that mothers, who have also themselves been the victims of diet culture, can be seen as a mechanism through which disordered eating cognitions and behaviors are perpetuated, and that the impact of this influence is early and enduring and represents a vicious cycle that young women find themselves in. It also seems, however, that the internalization of diet culture and beauty standards, and already present patterns of disordered eating can be worsened and escalated upon arrival to college. Furthermore, the increased academic stress that an elite university like Duke poses can be seen as a factor to patterns of disordered eating as well, as participants explicitly mentioned the stress of Duke, the idealized body and diet standards across campus, and that stress was a common determinant of binge eating and other disordered eating behaviors and cognitions. These disordered cognitions and behaviors can manifest in various ways, but are pervasive and are often exacerbated in times of negative affect and in an attempt to change one’s body shape, weight, or to feel a sense of control or reward through restriction.Item Open Access The Clash of Culture and Cuisine: Conflicting Expectations and Disordered Eating in Chinese Adolescent Women(2019-04-17) Ng, StephanieAlthough eating disorders have commonly been considered to affect predominantly white female populations, they have found to be increasingly prevalent in Chinese contexts. Despite the well-established negative consequences of eating disorders and body image disturbances, there has been a significant lack of cross-cultural research conducted on these issues in Chinese populations to date. The purpose of the present study is to fill this research gap by 1) exploring the perception of conflicting expectations regarding cultural eating norms and ideal body standards as a culturally specific risk factor in the development of disordered eating and body image concerns in Chinese adolescent women, 2) using existing research to develop a conceptual model of strategies that women may use to resolve the distress resulting from the perception of these conflicting expectations and 3) identifying risk and protective factors contributing to the choice of adaptive or maladaptive strategies. Thirty-four Chinese adolescent women (aged 18-22) participated in semi-structured interviews involving questions about typical mealtime scenarios, their perceptions of conflicts between expected eating behaviors and body shape standards, and how these conflicting expectations affected their emotions and satisfaction with their bodies. The results of this study provide initial support for the proposed conceptual model of conflict resolution, by demonstrating that the conflict of cultural expectations was a significant reason for distress reported by a majority of participants, and that different strategies of conflict resolution resulted in adaptive or maladaptive emotional and behavioral outcomes. Risk and protective factors in the development of disordered eating behaviors and attitudes in the present sample of Chinese adolescent women were identified following an analysis of responses; implications of these findings for future prevention, treatment and research efforts were also reported.