Date of Award
4-19-2023
Document Type
Thesis
Department
Dietetics
First Reader
Professor Stacy Freeman
Second Reader
Professor Holly Kyzer
Third Reader
Dr. Allyson Phillips
Abstract
Introduction: Eating Disorders (ED) are a current pandemic affecting boys, girls, men, and women of all ages, races, sizes, and backgrounds. Just in the United States alone, nine percent of the population, or 28.8 million Americans, will have an eating disorder in their lifetime.1 This statistic only takes into account the people who sought help, but there are still millions that go untreated or undiagnosed throughout their lifetime. According to the American Psychiatric Association, ED is defined as behavioral conditions characterized by severe and persistent disturbance in eating behaviors and associated distressing thoughts and emotions.3 Some of the common ED include anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge-eating.
Methods: A cohort study was conducted between October 24th, 2022 to October 30th, 2022 at Ouachita Baptist University (OBU). An online survey was conducted, and a QR code was used for easy access. The survey was given to male and female students from all the different schools across campus, including Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, Education, Business, Christian Studies, Fine Arts, and Humanities. There were a total of 130 participants in this research. All the responses remained anonymous.
Results: The greater percentage of participants were 18 years old, in the freshman classification, and female. Most of the participants have an overall knowledge on what ED are and what it entails. Overall, Southern beauty standards for women were based on their thinness and for men on their muscle mass.
Conclusion: Due to society’s impossible beauty standards, many people are prone to develop an ED. It is important to provide proper education to prevent this disease but also to provide proper treatment.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Urbina Turcios, Maria, "The Stigmatization of Eating Disorders Based on Cultures: The South vs The World" (2023). Honors Theses. 887.
https://scholarlycommons.obu.edu/honors_theses/887