Starving over Insecurities: Eating Disorders on College Campuses

The Comparison Game

Never having been an athletic person, I was determined to make myself into one once I got to college. I saw college as a new start—a place where no one knew me as the girl who always whiffed the ball and usually got picked last in gym class. I can still remember my first trip to my university’s gym. I went in wearing a baggy pair of basketball shorts and a t-shirt. I wasn’t out of shape but I was determined to do this whole “working out” thing. I walked in with confidence only to see a never-ending sea of cardio equipment packed with gorgeous, sculpted people—all working up a sweat with grace and ease.

They were tan. They were toned. They were beautiful. And I wasn’t one of them.

I suddenly noticed my baggy shorts and t-shirt and wondered how I would look in tight workout clothes that left little to the imagination. That’s when it hit me: I wasn’t good enough—or so I thought. College was a whole new ballgame. I was going to have to work 10 times harder than I ever had to in order to measure up to these other girls. I felt like an outcast, and I began to feel as if everyone was looking at me, noticing me and my rough appearance that was desperately in need of work—or perhaps a personal trainer. The insecurities began to burn inside me as I fled through the front doors and back to my dorm room.

Warped Cultural Messages

Thousands of college students face this same transition every day. Sadly, for some the pressure to fit in and to be accepted at school is just too much, and it leads many down the path to a self-destructive eating disorder. In fact, according to the Renfrew Center Foundation for Eating Disorders, 25% of college women engage in bingeing and purging as a means of weight management.

I spoke to Carolyn Costin, founder of The Eating Disorder Center of California and author of The Eating Disorder Sourcebook about why she thought eating disorders have become so prevalent on our nation’s college campuses. According to Costin, eating disorders tend to strike college-aged students, more specifically those between the ages of 16 and 26, because it is between these years that we begin to become most heavily influenced by society. It’s also during these years that we become direct hits for the media’s constant bombardment.

Nicole Richie. Lindsay Lohan. Mary Kate Olsen.

We have all seen them: sickeningly thin, happy, successful and in the spotlight—a picture of the life that many our age are killing themselves for…literally.

Risk Factors

In addition to the influential age of college students, Costin believes that a student’s living arrangements and the stress of transition can contribute to the development of an eating disorder. Costin also says often students are asked to live in such close quarters with other people that there is no room to hide one’s insecurities and imperfections. In small environments such as a dorm room, corridor or sorority house women begin to compete with one another and it becomes tough to hide one’s flaws, Costin said.

She says that a student’s independence while away at school can also contribute to the development of an eating disorder. “Eating disorders are pushed because of new independence—if you’re away from home it is not as likely for someone to see that you are in trouble.”

According to the National Eating Disorder Association, a study of Division 1 NCAA athletes showed that over one-third of female athletes reported attitudes and symptoms placing them at risk for anorexia. Many of these are athletes involved in sports that have specific diet, appearance, size, and weight requirements.

For Miami University of Ohio synchronized skater Staci Niederlehner, the pressures to maintain a certain weight have been evident from day one of her training for Miami’s team. Niederlehner says that each skater must undergo a pre-season physical test and weigh-in conducted by the university’s athletic training staff. Upon this weigh-in and testing, skaters are then notified as to how much weight they should gain or lose in order to be of most use to the team. During the skating season, monthly physical tests and weigh-ins are conducted of each skater on the team. She says the pressure to stay thin comes with the expectations of each skater on the team. “With skating, you need to be a certain weight to physically be able to do the maneuvers and it doesn’t look that good [to be overweight] on the ice and it doesn’t look that good [to be overweight] in a skating dress—and that’s what [the coaches] are looking for.”

For Niederlehner, the pressure to be thin and to meet the coach’s expectations is constantly on her mind. She says that each time she dresses, eats or looks in the mirror, the thought of how she might look in her skating dress plays in a steady loop in the background.

"I’ve noticed myself thinking about [my eating] even more now—being under that pressure to fit what they’re looking for.”

There is Hope

According to Costin, there are numerous things that can be done by parents, friends and universities to help combat the growing trend of eating disorders among college campuses. First, more specific training must be given to resident advisors (RAs) who are living and working among other students and serving as resources and advocates. By training and educating resident advisors on the many steps and aspects of confronting and dealing with an eating disorder, then perhaps they could be more aware of the warning signs associated with eating disorders and in turn, get help to more students.

Costin also suggested that schools have more counselors who are trained specifically in the complicated process of confronting someone struggling with an eating disorder and in the eating disorder treatment and recovery processes. She adds that the issue of the media’s pressure on body image and the ways in which it can be counteracted be built into subject-appropriate, introductory-level college courses in an attempt to fend off the media’s assault on our self-esteem from the very beginning.

In a day and age where one’s self worth is often determined by how we measure up to a picture in a magazine—a waif-thin model sauntering down the catwalk or an emaciated celebrity partying all night long—and whether or not that extra cookie will get us kicked off the team, it is my hope that you, a college student work to counteract these pressures in your own way. Find help, seek advice and know that you are never alone. You can currently find me at that gym on a regular basis but only because I owned up to my fear and faced it head on. By doing so I grew from the experience and showed myself that I really could stand up for myself, and that I didn’t have to be that last kid picked for dodge ball.

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