Honors Theses
Date of Award
Spring 5-1-2021
Document Type
Undergraduate Thesis
Department
Nutrition and Hospitality Management
First Advisor
Kathy Knight
Second Advisor
Melinda Valliant
Third Advisor
Nadeeja Wijayatunga
Relational Format
Dissertation/Thesis
Abstract
The intention of this project was to evaluate the attitudes, feelings and behaviors towards eating and food in Panhellenic sorority students, compared to women not in a sorority. The effect of other factors like grade point average, financial income, and the value of being viewed as attractive was also investigated. Two thousand sorority members and two thousand non-sorority members received a survey administered through Qualtrics to email addresses provided by the Office of Institutional Research, Effectiveness, and Planning at the University of Mississippi. Out of this group, 809 students participated in the survey. The survey consisted of questions from the Eating Attitudes Test 26 (EAT-26). The data collected from the survey was analyzed using SSPS version 27 and Microsoft Excel. The results revealed significant differences in the Dieting subscale and Bulimia and Food Preoccupation subcategories of the EAT-26 test between sorority and non-sorority women. They also revealed a positive correlation between EAT-26 scores and the importance of being perceived as attractive. A score of a 20 or higher on the test indicated a risk for disordered eating, and overall, 32% of participants received a score of 20 or higher, a rate higher than seen on many other college campuses.
Recommended Citation
Williams, Lucy, "Predisposition of Disordered Eating Among Women at the University of Mississippi" (2021). Honors Theses. 1743.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis/1743
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