Exploring Relationships with Food, Body, and Exercise at an Elite University: Determinants of Patterns of Disordered Eating
Abstract
Diet 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.
Type
Honors thesisDepartment
SociologyPermalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/25025Citation
Reuben, Allessandra (2022). Exploring Relationships with Food, Body, and Exercise at an Elite University: Determinants
of Patterns of Disordered Eating. Honors thesis, Duke University. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/25025.Collections
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