The Relation between Disordered Eating, Stress, and Anxiety in First-Year College Women

Research has shown that there is an increase in rates of stress and disordered eating for students transitioning to college. The current study examined this connection by determining the relation between disordered eating, stress, and anxiety in first-year college women. To this end, 99 college-enrolled women completed paper-and-pencil surveys in a psychology lab, such as the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scales (DASS-21) and the Eating Disorders Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q). According to the results, the DASS-21 stress sum was significantly correlated with the EDE-Q total disordered eating sum (r(92) =.330, p = .001), but the DASS-21 anxiety sum was not (r(92) = .075, p = .473). Further detailed analyses will be presented examining the relation between various subscales of the DASS-21 and EDE-Q. These results suggest that college mental health resources should be focused on reducing stress and identifying eating problems in the transition to college