Weight status and weight dissatisfaction of college students enrolled in a basic nutrition course

Abstract

It has been suggested that general dissatisfaction with body weight, or anorexia‐like behaviour, may be higher in students majoring in home economics, specifically dietetics, than in students in non‐food and nutrition majors. This observation may be problematic in a student's future personal life or professional practice. The purpose of this study was to document the prevalence of general dissatisfaction with body weight, compared with actual body weight, in a group of college students enrolled in an introductory nutrition course. The sample included 169 female and 41 male students. Mean body weight and body mass index were 110 ± 20·7% of ideal and 23·4 ± 4·4, respectively. Dissatisfaction with weight was reported by the majority of students, especially females (76·2%). A significant relationship was found between reported weight dissatisfaction and actual weight status for females (P < 0·001). Furthermore, more females in dietetics were dissatisfied with weight (83%) than females in other majors (75%) although the difference was not significant. These results suggest that, while weight dissatisfaction was not significantly higher in dietetic majors, the high incidence of dissatisfaction in all females is a concern. There are, therefore, potential implications for the educational strategies of home economics faculties regarding appropriate attitudes about weight status and food.

Introductory nutrition students' attitudes towards obesity: ethnic and gender differences

“…Akan and Grilo3' image. 13,14,18,[32][33][34][35] found that Anglo-American women had more negative attitudes towards obesity, more body dissatisfaction and more disordered eating and dieting behaviours than did Asian or African-American women. Thompson et al 39 indicated that African-American male adolescents preferred a significantly heavier ideal female body size than white male adolescents.…”

Eating behaviors and eating disorders symptomatology in nutrition students / Conductas alimentarias y sintomatología de trastornos del comportamiento alimentario en estudiantes de nutrición

“…En este tenor, la variable insatisfacción corporal se manifestó significativamente en 33.51% de la muestra de alumnos, sin embargo este no fue el único factor detonante de la sintomatología dado que del mismo modo, los alumnos sin sintomatología la exhibían. Cabe hacer mención que los datos hallados para esta variable fueron menores en su distribución porcentual en comparación con lo mencionado en otras investigaciones en este grupo de estudiantes (44.23% a 83%; Rasor-Greenhaegh, Hurley, Witt, Brown & Rebovich, 1993;Rebello et al, 2004;Stipp & Oliveira, 2003).…”