Eating

Eating

Disorders
Colleges and universities around the country are reporting an increased
prevalence of eating problems among young female students. Difficulties include
obsession with food, starvation dieting, severe weight loss, obesity, and
compulsive binge eating, often followed by self-induced vomiting (Hesse-Biber,

1989, p. 71). What are the reasons for eating disorders among college-aged
women? It is the purpose of this paper to discuss this question and give an
overview of several possible answers, determined following an examination of
current psychological literature in this area of concern. The reasons for
difficulties around the issues of food and eating are myriad and complex. They
touch on every aspect of being female, and no single answer sufficiently
explains the phenomenon of college students who overeat or undereat as a
response to stress. In her book, Anatomy of a Food Addiction, author Anne

Katherine calls eating the "great escape" and pinpoints the
vulnerabilities of women to childhood origins (1991, p. 70). She believes that
girls are taught that they cannot fight or flee. Unlike boys, who have the
outlets of strenuous play and fighting to release anger, girls are taught that
they must cope within the difficult situation while remaining there. In the
girl-child's attempts to find solace in a situation from which she cannot
escape, she learns that sweet food will release chemicals that soothe her when
she is frightened and angry. Thus, she learns rath...

Eating

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