Drunkorexia: is it really “just” a university lifestyle choice?

Abstract

Purpose The current study investigated the prevalence of compensatory behaviours (caloric restriction, increased exercise and bulimic tendencies) in response to alcohol consumption (also known as Drunkorexia) in students, non-students and previous students, as well as beginning to understand the presence of possible predictors of these behaviours (body esteem, sensation seeking). Methods A volunteer sample of students, non-students and previous students (n = 95) completed the Compensatory Eating and Behaviours in Response to Alcohol Consumption Scale, a questionnaire which measures overall Drunkorexia engagement. The participants also completed the Body Esteem Scale for Adolescents and Adults Scale (BESAA) and the Brief Sensation Seeking Scale (BSSS) to investigate predictors of Drunkorexia. Results The results indicated that there was no significant difference in Drunkorexia engagement and behaviours between students, non-students and previous students. It was also found that both low body esteem and high sensation seeking tendencies were significant predictors of Drunkorexia; specifically, the appearance esteem factor of the BESAA and the disinhibition factor of the BSSS. Conclusions Findings suggest that Drunkorexia is also present outside of student populations, and therefore, future interventions and research should include non-students in samples. In addition, findings support the idea that Drunkorexia cannot be classified solely as an eating disorder or a substance abuse disorder. As a result of this, further research should be conducted to fully understand why this complex behaviour exists. Evidence-based medicine level III (Evidence obtained from case-control analytic study)

Relationship between sensation seeking, alcohol problems and bulimic symptoms: a community-based, longitudinal study

“…Those stated that sensation seeking has either no association with later bulimic symptoms [13] or that it is a weakly protective factor [12]. However, our findings are supported by cross-sectional meta-analyses based on clinical samples [1,15] and other studies with limited populations, such as university students [2,[16][17][18], which all show that sensation seeking is positively correlated with bulimic symptoms. Previous studies have not considered the possible gender differences.…”

“…Most of the existing community studies have shown either no association between sensation seeking and bulimic symptoms [10,11,13] or a mild negative correlation [12], and only one with a cross-sectional setting a positive correlation even after controlling for other psychiatric comorbidities such as victimization experiences and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) [14]. These findings differ from some studies based on clinical samples [1,15] or other limited populations, such as university students [2,[16][17][18], which indicate that sensation seeking is positively correlated with bulimic symptoms. However, when comparing these results to the present study, it is notable that only one of the previous studies used the eating disorder inventory-2 (EDI-2) Bulimia subscale to measure bulimic symptoms [16].…”

“…Guller et al [13] considered alcohol problems when examining the association between sensation seeking and bulimic symptoms in their longitudinal study, but they found no prospective correlation probably due to their study participants' young age. Two recent cross-sectional studies conducted in student or mostly student populations identified a positive association between sensation seeking, bulimic symptoms, and alcohol problems [17,18]. As sensation-seeking seems to be an antecedent to alcohol problems [19,20], alcohol problems could mediate the effects of sensation seeking on bulimic symptoms, but further studies are needed to clarify the longitudinal aspects and relevance in the general population.…”

Food and alcohol disturbance among young adults during the COVID-19 lockdown in Italy: risk and protective factors

“…Indeed, FAD is typical of individuals who choose to engage in diet-related behaviors before or after drinking large amounts of alcohol, to compensate for calories consumed through alcoholic beverages for the fear of gaining weight, or to enhance the intoxicating effects of alcohol [ 18 , 21 , 22 ]. Recently, researchers have proven that FAD is predicted by poor body esteem, high sensation seeking [ 23 , 24 ], and drive for thinness [ 25 ], thus suggesting that people may use this at-risk behavior to pursue an idealized body image. Moreover, in recent studies [ 26 ], FAD appeared to be driven by motivations analogous to eating and substance use disorders: applying the Cooper’s alcohol motivation model, researchers found that enhancement and conformity motives were both related with compensatory behaviors, suggesting that young adults may limit their caloric intake on drinking days to comply with social expectations and to be accepted by others [ 26 ].…”

Exploring risk factors of food and alcohol disturbance (FAD) in U.S. college students

“…Individuals who engage in this unhealthy pattern of behaviors may be also motivated to increase the effects of intoxication through the engagement in disordered eating [2]. Disordered eating (e.g., skipping meals, caloric restriction) prior to consumption of alcohol can increase the effects of intoxication [7]. Prior literature examing FAD behaviors has shown that some individuals have engaged in disordered eating patterns prior to consuming alcohol to increase the effects of alcohol [1,2,[4][5][6].…”