In a study, researchers found that binging, fasting, diet pill use and other eating disorder symptoms clustered within counties, particularly among female students.

Advertisement

"These findings confirm the strong social influences on female adolescents in the US to be thin, sometimes using unhealthy behaviours to achieve this goal," the researchers write in the current issue of the International Journal of Eating Disorders.

Research in the 1980s in female college students first suggested that disordered eating behaviour spread through 'social contagion', demonstrating that binge eating clustered within sororities, Dr Valerie L. Forman-Hoffman and Cassie L. Cunningham of the VA Iowa City Health Care System note in their report.

How the study was done
In the current study, they looked at whether a similar pattern would be seen among high school students at the county-wide level by analysing nationally representative data on 15 349 high school students.

There was indeed a small but significant clustering effect, the researchers found. A pair of students from the same county was four to 10 percent more likely to share an eating-disordered behaviour when compared to pairs in which each person came from a different county.

Severe food intake restriction, dieting, exercising and diet pill use all showed clustering by county, as did any weight control symptom overall or any eating disorder symptom. But no clustering was seen for purging, possibly due to the 'secretive', less socially acceptable nature of this behaviour, the researchers suggest.

Other factors also influencial
Clustering patterns were the same in rural, suburban and urban counties.

While the study wasn't designed to look at why these behaviours might be clustering in certain counties, the researchers suggest that peer pressure, information sharing or students modelling their behaviour on one another are possible mechanisms.

Based on their results, the researchers think it may be more effective to target eating disorder prevention efforts to counties or schools where they are more common, rather than individual students. – (Reuters Health)

April 2008

Read more:
Boys at risk for eating disorder
Protective dad, anorexia risk
 

Print this article on

Rate this article Poor 1 2 3 4 5 Excellent

JOBS

Senior Secretary Gauteng - North/Sandton Infrastructure Resource Gauteng - Johannesburg Management Accountant R450,000-500,000 Per Annum Cost To Company Gauteng - Johannesburg Financial Manager R350,000-400,000 Per Annum Cost To Company Gauteng - Johannesburg Financial and Project Accountant R300,000-360,000 Per Annum Cost To Company Gauteng - Johannesburg Financial Accountant R380,000-420,000 Per Annum Cost To Company Gauteng - Johannesburg SSIS Business Intelligence Specialists (SSIS; SSAS) R350,000-500,000 Per Annum Cost To Company Gauteng - North/Sandton Financial Accountant R350,000-450,000 Per Annum Cost To Company Gauteng - South Find more jobs Register your CV Post a job