eating disorders sorority life

FRATERNITY AND SORORITY LIFE AND EATING DISORDERS


Matthew Greer

Stockton University

Psychology of Eating Disorders

April 24, 2015

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Abstract

Fraternity and sorority life are a fundamental part of college and university

campuses around the country. The affects of eating disorders and disordered eating are

scrutinized and how they affect membership, health of members and activities within the

organization. Sororities are prone to more body image issues because of their strive to be

a perfectionist, which is a key trait in someone who has an eating disorder. There is a

correlation between sorority life and body image issues, but not enough research to prove

that sorority life has a bigger impact than non-sorority life does on getting an eating

disorder.

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Ninety one percent of college campus women surveyed said they tried to control

their weight through dieting (Eating 2015). Eating disorders are prevalent in today’s

society and affect numerous people every day. The top three eating disorders are bulimia

nervosa, anorexia nervosa and binge eating. When these disorders are looked at, it is

important to understand their comorbidity with other disorders such as anxiety,

depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder. An eating disorder can make the person

strive for perfection and therefore worsen these other disorders that negatively affect the

recovery standpoint of eating disorders. It is critical to look at other comorbid factors

that can affect the person’s ability to resolve continuous issues, ability to recover, and

refrain from relapsing. A large portion of young men and women do not know how to

properly diet or eat healthy. Students tend to take on bad eating habits such as not eating

at a certain meal, smoking, purging, and taking laxatives. These disordered eating styles

try to control weight gain, but can manifest into an eating disorder.

Less than three percent of Americans are members of Fraternity and Sorority Life

organizations. Fraternities and sororities are associated with negative stereotypes of

hazing, binge drinking, partying, and being elitists. If an organization is able to live the

values of its founders than they will not fall claim to these negative stereotypes, but quite

often peer pressures, the inability to properly self-governor, and lack of support from

superior offices allow some of these organization be veer down the wrong path. The

fraternities and sororities are no longer living the values of their founders and the ritual

that they took to the order. When these values are striven away from is when there

become issues within the fraternity and sorority community.

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The correlation between eating disorders and fraternity and sorority life is an

interesting topic to investigate because of the ideals that these organizations are supposed

to embody. If sororities are to stray away from their ideals are women more likely to have

an eating disorder? Is there a higher rate of eating disorders in sorority women than non-

sorority women? Is there evidence of women being negatively affected by their values

based organization?

Literature Review

Research by Pike looks at the influence of fraternity or sorority membership on

students’ college experiences and cognitive development. This studied showed that

Greeks were involved in more leadership on campus, academic effort, and social

awareness when applying for jobs. The effect of fraternity and sorority life is different for

different schools. When you look at certain chapters and their successes, the same cannot

be said for the same organization at a different institution. Ultimately, Greek life affects

the student’s social awareness, but what that means as a secondary affect differs from

institution to institution.

Research by Schwitzer, Bergholz, Dore, and Salimi focused on eating disorders

among college women. In these studies, there was an abundant of research to prove that

college women are one of the most at risk age groups to be consumed by an eating

disorder. The participation that sororities play in this disorder is a key thing to pay

attention to when you are talking about college women who are very focused on

appearance and thinness.

Research by Schulken, Pinciaro, Sawyer, Jensen, and Hoban suggest that sorority

women’s body size perception and their weight are related to their attitudes and

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behaviors. Six hundred twenty-seven sorority women were surveyed to see if their

involvement with their sorority made them more at risk for developing an eating disorder.

This research wanted to see the affects of different subgroups in women’s behaviors.

Sororities were looked at as a subgroup because of their focus on thinness, acceptance,

and striving for betterment. People are more likely to have dissatisfaction with their body

if they are apart of an organization that values body image and appearance. The study

looked for four traits pertaining to eating disorders; they were thinness, body

dissatisfaction, body size perception, and bulimic behavior. The experimenter used a

demographic questionnaire, the Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI), and the Body Mass

Index (BMI) Silhouettes Survey. The results of this study show that this specific

subgroup of sorority women is are at higher risk for an eating disorder, but does not say

that they are going to actually have one. According to Rosen, this study suggests that

institution need to implement more programs that get students talking about and

understanding diversity. Experience shows that sororities genuinely care about their

sister’s well being and allows for educational opportunities.

Research by Meilman, Hippel, and Gaylor looked at self-induced vomiting in

college women and its relation to eating, alcohol use and Greek Life. Vomiting is one of

the easiest ways to restrict weight loss. Starving one’s self can be rather difficult, but if

you force yourself to vomit you are still getting the satisfaction of eating without as many

calories. College women are more like to take part in these activities because of the

somewhat positive connotation it has caused in the college atmosphere. Bulimics show

similar traits as alcoholics, which is also associated with behaviors in the fraternity and

sorority community. The hidden binging and purging can be associated with both alcohol

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intake and an eating disorder. During college the stress levels increase to levels that

people are not accustomed to. When they try to deal with these stress they may not deal

with them in the proper manner and rather turn to other negative things instead of dealing

with the stresses in a good manner.

Students think that self-induced vomiting is a more positive thing now. They say

things like “pull the trigger” or “puke and rally”. These sayings make a serious thing like

vomiting into something that people make light of. Self-induced vomiting is similar in

both eating and drinking, after the event happens the person “pulls the trigger” to make

them feel rejoiced about the decisions they made. Instead of thinking about the

dangerousness of the situations they are putting themselves in. In this study three hundred

eleven women from Dartmouth College were asked to survey about their drinking

routine, the amount of times they self-induced vomited, if the vomiting involved food or

alcohol, and whether they were in a Greek organization. The studied showed to be

inconclusive for sorority members because of a low sample population, but showed that

the organization did not have an impact on the women’s self-induced vomiting habits.

Related to the last topic, research by Burke, Cremeens, Vail-Smith, and Wooklsey

look at the affects of drunkorexia in college freshman. Drunkorexia is the restriction of

calories so you can consume more alcohol in your nightly festivities. The viewpoint is

that if you consume fewer calories during the day then you can consume more calories

that night involving alcohol. This study was the most prevalent study concerning men.

Young men will restrict their calorie intake when they plan on drinking so they will

spend less money on alcohol because they will get drunker faster. Although drunkorexia

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is not an eating disorder, it is a form of disordered eating, which should be monitored

before it becomes more prevalent in the student’s life.

Research by Averett, Terrizzi and Wang showed the effect of sorority

membership on eating disorders and body mass index. In this study they showed that

women in sororities are more likely to be negatively affected by weight related behaviors.

They also say though that women who live the values of their organization and

understand their meaning allow the women to fight any eating disorder urges. Women

who randomly join organizations or are apart of organizations that do not live the values

they were founded on are more likely to be affected by an eating disorder. Some traits

that are represented in someone that has an eating disorder are: perfectionism, low self-

esteem, harm avoidance, and obsessive tendencies. These traits can also be seen in

sorority members and, or members desiring admittance in to sororities. Sororities are

great sources to help the women be support for anther sister in need. The woman who is

suffering has a support system that is unlike other groups of friends and allows the

woman to feel more comfortable and accepting of help. The association does not

necessarily show that there is a correlation between eating disorder and sorority life

actually existence, and that there is not another factor that is not being taken into

consideration. The final sample population consisted of fifty-nine thousand three hundred

forty traditional female college women, five thousand eight hundred twenty-eight of

which are in a sorority. The common stereotypes of sorority women were statistically

true: they were more likely diagnosed with anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa, had

lower BMIs and were less likely to be over overweight or underweight. Sorority women

were more likely to be healthier, academically driven, service driven, heterosexual, and

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drink and or smoke occasionally. Females with low self-esteem are not as likely to join a

sorority. Women want to join and if they are rejected, studies show that they have lower

self-esteem. This explains a factor that could affect sorority’s relations with eating

disorders. If a women is rejected from a sorority she is thinking about all of the things

that she could do better. Most of the time they think it was something with physical

appearance or something they said, instead of the actual facts, which could include

academics, involvement, or leadership potential.

Research by Allison and Park showed the affects of disordered eating among

sorority and non-sorority women. The end conclusion was that women who join these

organizations are similar to those who do not in the beginning, but as time in the

organizations prolongs they care more about body image and dieting. This makes sorority

women more weight conscious, body image intolerant, and a higher chance of dieting.

Doors of discussion within the chapter hall need to happen to issue sister’s safety and

health.

Research by Becker, Smith, and Ciao studied reducing eating disorder risk factors

in sorority member by a random trial. This experiment used one hundred sixty-one

sorority members from local organizations. A local chapter is one that does not have tied

with a national organization. This is an interesting twist to what is normally studied in

sorority life. Members belonging to national organizations normally are more abundant

and easier to coordinate then their local counterparts. The studied focused on prevention

rather than treatment and how participants were able to understand their disorder if they

had one. The study says that low risk and high-risk sorority women can be helped by

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newer prevention techniques. Ultimately, the tests are not conclusive because there is no

proof if the current prevention techniques are not working, or if newer would work better.

Discussion

A large portion of the research in the field comparing sorority life and eating

disorders showcases sororities as a place that focuses on body image, thinness, and

perfectionism. Women are more likely to strive to be skinner or have disordered eating

because of the social environment they are in. If they are to have an eating disorder they

already have a support system to help them with their issues. If an organization is

upholding its values and what it stands for then the member of the organization would be

less likely to be affected negatively by negative aspects of social organizations.

When eating disorders and Fraternity and Sorority Life are looked at there is not a

huge amount of research done in this area. The research that has been done reflects

mostly on young Caucasian sorority women. There is a large amount of research on the

appearance of eating disorders in fraternities, non-social sororities, or cultural based

Greek organizations. Some organizations have a program about body image awareness.

Research should so the difference between these organizations and others on the same

campus. Delta Delta Delta women’s fraternity has a program call Fat Talk Free Week.

This program starts a conversation about ending talk that would negatively impact body

insecurities. Delta Phi Epsilon women’s fraternity has an event called trash your

insecurities where people write down what they do not like about their bodies and

through it into a trash can. These types of programs help build awareness and could

potentially cause less of a correlation between eating disorder, body image issues, and

sorority life.

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In order to get a better result of how sororities are impacting their members,

potential members, and non-members it is important to look at how the organization is as

an organization. Is the organization living their values? If yes, then do they have the same

effect on members as other chapters? Does the chapter have policies and programs in

place to members who are suffering? These are all critical questions that could be taken

into account in order to see what is the overall lasting affect of eating disorders and

sorority life.

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Work Cited

Allison, K., & Park, C. (2003). A prospective study of disordered eating among sorority

and nonsorority women. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 354-358.

Averett, S. L., Terrizzi, S., & Wang, Y. (2013). The Effect of Sorority Membership on

Eating Disorders and Body Mass Index.

Becker, C., Smith, L., & Ciao, A. (2005). Reducing eating disorder risk factors in sorority

members: A randomized trial. Behavior Therapy, 245-253.

Burke, S. C., Cremeens, J., Vail-Smith, K., & Woolsey, C. (2010). Drunkorexia: calorie

restriction prior to alcohol consumption among college freshman.Journal of

Alcohol and Drug Education, 54(2), 17-34.

Eating Disorders Statistics. (2015, January 1). Retrieved April 24, 2015, from

http://www.anad.org/get-information/about-eating-disorders/eating-disorders-

statistics/

Meilman, P., Hippel, F., & Gaylor, M. (1991). Self-Induced Vomiting in College

Women: Its Relation to Eating, Alcohol Use, and Greek Life. Journal of

American College Health, 40, 39-41.

Pike, G. R. (2000). The influence of fraternity or sorority membership on students'

college experiences and cognitive development. Research in Higher

Education, 41(1), 117-139.

Schulken, E. D., Pinciaro, P. J., Sawyer, R. G., Jensen, J., & Hoban, M. T. (1997).

Sorority women's body size perceptions and their weight-related attitudes and

behaviors. Journal Of American College Health: J Of ACH, 46(2), 69-74.

Schwitzer, A., Bergholz, K., Dore, T., & Salimi, L. (1998). Eating Disorders Among

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College Women: Prevention, Education, and Treatment Responses.Journal of

American College Health, 46(5), 199-207.

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