Report on a panel longitudinal study of college women's eating patterns and eating disorders: Noncontinuum versus continuum measures

Abstract

The self‐reported frequencies (prevalence and incidence) of eating patterns and disorders in a matched longitudinal sample of college women (N = 141) interviewed during their sophomore year (Time 1) and senior year (Time 2) were compared. The rate of eating disorders was assessed using a noncontinuum measure, the Eating Attitudes Test (Garner, Olmsted, Bohr, & Garfinkel, 1982), as well as continuum measures based on criteria in the third edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (American Psychiatric Association, 1980). The noncontinuum measure revealed a prevalence rate of eating disorders per 2‐year period comparable to that found in other studies of college student populations. The incidence rate per 2‐year period was not of epidemic proportions. A sizable percentage of women appeared to get better from Time 1 to Time 2; a small percentage of women remained abnormal eaters. The continuum measurement uncovered a large group of women whose eating patterns were chronic but not severe enough to classify them as “abnormal”; eaters. The implications of using different measures for defining and treating college women's eating disorders are discussed.