An Examination of Disordered Eating Among Undergraduate Students According to Academic Major, Body Mass Index, Physical Activity Levels, and Body/Muscle Satisfaction
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Abstract
Emerging evidence suggests that undergraduate students seeking health-related degrees are at a higher risk of developing disordered eating patterns compared to those majoring in non-health-related fields. Although prior evidence suggests that disordered eating can be influenced by other health-related variables such as body mass index (BMI), physical activity (PA) levels, and body/muscle satisfaction, no prior studies have examined the potentially synergistic relationship between academic major and these variables. Accordingly, this study aimed to examine whether disordered eating among undergraduate students varies as a function of academic major (i.e., seeking health-related degrees compared to seeking other degrees), PA levels (total MET-minutes per week obtained via the International Physical Activity Questionnaire - Short Form), BMI, overall muscle appearance (summary scores obtained via the Muscle Appearance Satisfaction Scale) and body satisfaction (summary scores obtained via the Body Shape Questionnaire), and biological sex (men and women). Undergraduate men and women from health-related and non-health-related majors were sent an electronic survey invitation that contained demographic questions (i.e., age, sex, race, academic class standing, academic major), and assessed relevant health-related outcomes needed to examine the primary research question. The final sample consisted of 186 participants (health-related majors n = 82 [74 women, 8 men], non-health-related majors n = 104 [62 women, 42 men]). A blocked linear regression approach was used to determine the best fitting model among all independent variables (i.e., final blocked linear regression model), with any significant independent predictors included as interactive effects in a final overall linear regression model. Results from the final blocked linear regression model revealed that after controlling for all other variables, health-related major was associated with lower disordered eating scores, and greater body and muscle dissatisfaction scores were associated with greater disordered eating scores. However, results from the final overall linear regression model revealed that only greater body dissatisfaction scores were associated with greater disordered eating scores. Although replication and expansion studies are needed, these preliminary results provide a rationale for future investigations to examine whether body dissatisfaction is an important target for preventing or reducing disordered eating tendencies among undergraduate populations.