For Immediate Release
September 26, 2006
National Eating Disorders Association Announces Results of Eating Disorders Poll On College Campuses Across the Nation
Extensive Survey Reveals Some Startling Data: Nearly 20% of Students Admit to an Eating Disorder
SEATTLE — Sept. 26, 2006 — A poll measuring the awareness and prevalence of eating disorders on college campuses across the country, powered by GMI (Global Market Insite, Inc.), a provider of global market intelligence solutions, on behalf of the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA), has returned some startling findings.
Most notable was the result that nearly 20% of respondents believe that at some point they have suffered from an eating disorder, versus available research that has demonstrated lifetime prevalence rates between .05-4%. Among those who said they have had one or still suffer from an eating disorder, nearly 75% of that group never received treatment.
The poll – which queried both male and female undergraduate and graduate students of various ethnicities – provides updated information useful in furthering NEDA’s mission to expand public understanding and prevention of eating disorders.
Using GMI’s online data collection technology and global respondent panels, NEDA polled 1,002 students on private and public campuses, asking about their general knowledge of eating disorders; how many of their peers they know are battling the illness; the causes of eating disorders; and actions they may have taken to help those afflicted, among other topics.
Of those polled, 36.5% were men and 63.5% were women, from freshman through graduate and post baccalaureate. Ethnically, 78.9% were Caucasian; 7.6% African- American; 8.2% Asian; and 7.2% Hispanic.
Commented Lynn Grefe, CEO of NEDA, “While it may be back-to-school time, it’s also back to basics—doing the best job we can to support these young people in transition. To turn this around, we need to ensure that trained advisors who understand this illness are readily available to college populations.”
“While we suspected that the number of young people on college campuses with eating disorders is higher than published data reflects, the results of this poll were startling even to those of us who work in this field every day. To make matters worse, to know that almost 75% of those who are or have been affected by an eating disorder never received help is distressing. This emphasizes our challenge to steer more people to the help they need and to ensure that quality treatment, covered by insurance, is available.”
POLL RESULTS:
Occurrence of eating disorders on campus:
- More than half of those polled (55.3%) said they know at least one person who has struggled with an eating disorder and have at least taken the initiative to speak to them about it (57.6%).
- Only 37.8% felt their lives were not personally impacted by an eating disorder. Of the 19.6% who admit to having personally had an eating disorder at some time, nearly 75% of those had never received or sought treatment.
- Students who have dieted and avoided or skipped meals (80.9% and 74.7%, respectively).
- Students who know someone who compulsively exercises more than two hours at a time, more days of the week than not (44.4%), purges by vomiting (38.8%); uses laxatives to lose weight (26%).
General awareness of eating disorders:
- Of the respondents, 25.2% were familiar with anorexia; 22.9% with bulimia; 15.4% with binge eating disorder; 7.9% with compulsive exercise bulimia and 62.4% with all of the above. Only 10.9% selected “none of the above.”
- A majority of respondents believe eating disorders will lead to major lifelong health problems and serious or fatal health issues (83% and 82.5%, respectively).
Among the common pressures believed by respondents to cause the onset of eating disorders:
- Cultural pressures to be thin (57.3%)
- Stress from family and life in general (40.3% and 46.2%, respectively)
- Personal choice (39%)
- Mental illness (35.4%)
- History of trauma (17.9%)
- Genetics (17.6%)
DID YOU KNOW?
- As many as 10 million females and 1 million males in the U.S. are battling eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia. Millions more suffer from binge eating disorder.
- The peak onset of eating disorders occurs during puberty and the late teen/early adult years, but symptoms can occur as young as kindergarten.
- More than one in three “normal dieters” progresses to pathological dieting.
- Eating disorders affect people from all walks of life, including young children, middle-aged women, men and individuals of all races and ethnicities.
- Long-term physical health implications of eating disorders include heart failure, kidney damage, esophagus, colon and intestinal problems, osteoporosis, tooth decay and hair loss.
- Anorexia nervosa has the highest mortality rate of any mental illness.
- Although eating disorders are potentially lethal, they are treatable.
GMI (Global Market Insite, Inc.) is the only company that provides comprehensive integrated solutions for global market intelligence for both market research firms and corporate market research departments at Global 2000 companies. Solutions include Net-MR, a suite of software tools to manage and automate research throughout the project lifecycle, desktop analysis tools, 24/7 service bureau capabilities, and one of the world’s largest, highly profiled, double opt-in managed panels, spanning across 200 countries. In addition, GMI offers high-value, real-time enterprise feedback solutions for customer, partner and employee programs. Founded in 1999 with world headquarters in Seattle, Wash., GMI has operations on five continents. More information is available at www.gmi-mr.com, or e-mail us at info@gmi-mr.com.
The National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA), headquartered in Seattle, Wash., is the largest not-for-profit organization in the country dedicated to supporting research for the prevention, treatment and cure of eating disorders; supporting state legislative and advocacy efforts for access to treatment; expanding public education and awareness of eating disorders; promoting access and providing referrals to quality treatment for those affected; providing support for their loved ones. Since the inception of its Helpline in 1999, NEDA has referred more than 50,000 people to treatment and tallies more than 40 million hits annually on its Web site.
# # #
For treatment referrals, visit www.NationalEatingDisorders.org.
Or contact NEDA’s live Helpline: 800-931-2237
Monday - Friday: 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. (PST)
Contacts:
Greenleaf & Associates – 323-660-5800
Vicki Greenleaf @ vgleaf@pacbell.net
Karen Brundage @ karenbru@pacbell.net
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