Rates of eating disorders have increased recently and are a public health concern especially among college students. Understanding variables that are associated with eating disorders could be helpful in preventing them. Participants (N = 525) were students from a large southwestern university. It was hypothesized that a desire for an underweight…

Although sororities are often perceived as contributing to eating-disordered behavior, limited research has investigated eating disorders in sorority members. The purpose of this study was to investigate the utility of a highly interactive cognitive dissonance prevention program in reducing empirically supported risk factors in sorority members.…

The longitudinal stability of eating problems and their relationships to risk factors were investigated in a representative population sample of 623 Norwegian girls aged 13-14 followed over 7 years (3 time points). Three eating problem symptoms were measured: Restriction, Bulimia-food preoccupation, and Diet, all taken from the 12-item Eating…

The Attuned Representation Model of eating-disorder etiology and symptom maintenance is a comprehensive model that can effectively guide prevention and treatment efforts by addressing individual, cultural, and interactive issues. The model integrates the risk factors related to the onset of eating-disordered behaviors (i.e., biological,…

Over the past 5 years there has been increased attention given to mental health issues on college and university campuses across the country. However, few research efforts have been conducted to systematically investigate the mental health of college students. The College Student Mental Health Survey was undertaken as a first step towards gaining…

Female athletes are at risk for developing eating disorders because of the pressures that are placed on them by society, their peers, their coaches, and the sports culture itself. This paper reviews the literature on the risk factors involved and various methods of prevention and treatment. The authors conclude that individual and group approaches…

This paper discusses the use of Rational Recovery (RR) as a counseling technique in treating people who feel fat, particularly women. Fatness is viewed as a philosophy, not a physical condition. Cultural influences defining and stressing ideal femininity come down hard on women whose physiques or appearances do not measure up. RR gives people…

I explore the role of training practices at the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) in perpetuating power and control issues and the potential consequences of those practices. I argue that trainee responses to control deprivation may have resulted in alleged sexual assaults by male cadets and the eating disorders manifested by female cadets.…

The Internet provides a new means of obtaining psychological health care, but Internet site quality varies widely. To help in the search for reliable information in cyberspace, a ratings scale, which assesses six dimensions of site quality (accuracy, practicality, normalization, sense of belonging, referral, and feedback mechanisms) is offered…

Perfectionist tendencies seem to exist on a continuum, ranging from healthy to dysfunctional behavior. Gifted students, in particular, struggle with perfectionism. This book discusses how to strike a balance between three main areas of life: (1) work and school; (2) play and hobbies; and (3) family and social relationships. Geared towards…

A qualitative research conversation needs to include a critical examination of a study's relational dimension. Excerpts are presented from two doctoral dissertations that discuss the nature of the researcher-participant relationships formed through the studies. The first dissertation, "Beyond the Yellow Brick Road: Educational Portraits of…

The purpose of this publication is to provide discussion of some of the most difficult and controversial issues surrounding body image and eating disorders, specifically, anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. It includes contributions from a number of nationally and internationally recognized clinicians and researchers in the field. It also…

This paper reviews the findings reported by Dyer and Tiggemann (1996) in Australia studying the effect of single sex versus coeducational school environments on body concerns in adolescent females. It details the reasons why parents and their children choose to be educated in single sex versus coeducational environments; and reviews literature…

Two experiments involving 143 and 1,480 individuals with severe and profound mental retardation found that persons with profound mental retardation were more likely to evince sterotypies or self-injury (SIB) compared to their severely impaired counterparts. Those with stereotypies were more likely to present with autism, organicity, and eating…

Investigated the relationship among acculturation, body image, self-esteem, and eating disorder symptomatology in 120 Mexican-American adolescent women. Findings indicate that acculturation levels were not related to anorexic or bulimic symptomatology, self-esteem, body dissatisfaction or thinness of ideal and attractive figures. Also, lower…