What does a person with an eating disorder look like? The picture may not be as clear-cut as many people think. Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis led a groundbreaking study with an important lesson: Eating disorders don’t discriminate.
“There’s been a perception that eating disorders mostly affect thin, white women,” said Ellen Fitzsimmons-Craft, an associate professor of psychological and brain sciences in Arts & Sciences. “Our study of college students dispels that myth.”
The study, funded by a National Institute of Mental Health grant, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), surveyed 29,951 students from 26 colleges and universities, including WashU. Two-thirds of respondents were female. The students were asked to answer a series of questions about their health, including their mental health and their attitudes toward food and body image.
Thirteen percent of respondents showed signs of eating disorders, including anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder — an unprecedented insight into the magnitude of the crisis on campus.
Importantly, the risk of eating disorders was relatively similar for white, Black, Asian, and Latino students.
“No matter their racial or ethnic background, these students all live in a culture that encourages or expects individuals to conform to certain body ideals,” said Fitzsimmons-Craft, also an associate professor of psychiatry at WashU Medicine. “These findings show that eating disorders can happen to anyone.”
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