1. Gender Identity, Sexual Orientation, and Eating-Related Pathology in a National Sample of College Students.
- Author
-
Diemer EW, Grant JD, Munn-Chernoff MA, Patterson DA, and Duncan AE
- Subjects
- Adolescent, Adult, Anti-Obesity Agents administration & dosage, Dietary Supplements statistics & numerical data, Female, Health Surveys methods, Health Surveys statistics & numerical data, Humans, Laxatives administration & dosage, Logistic Models, Male, Odds Ratio, Risk Factors, Self Report, United States epidemiology, Universities, Vomiting, Young Adult, Feeding and Eating Disorders epidemiology, Feeding and Eating Disorders psychology, Gender Identity, Sexual Behavior, Students psychology, Transgender Persons
- Abstract
Purpose: This study examined associations of gender identity and sexual orientation with self-reported eating disorder (SR-ED) diagnosis and compensatory behaviors in transgender and cisgender college students., Methods: Data came from 289,024 students from 223 U.S. universities participating in the American College Health Association-National College Health Assessment II (median age, 20 years). Rates of past-year SR-ED diagnosis and past-month use of diet pills and vomiting or laxatives were compared among transgender students (n = 479) and cisgender sexual minority (SM) male (n = 5,977) and female (n = 9,445), unsure male (n = 1,662) and female (n = 3,395), and heterosexual male (n = 91,599) and female (n = 176,467) students using chi-square tests. Logistic regression models were used to estimate the odds of eating-related pathology outcomes after adjusting for covariates., Results: Rates of past-year SR-ED diagnosis and past-month use of diet pills and vomiting or laxatives were highest among transgender students and lowest among cisgender heterosexual men. Compared to cisgender heterosexual women, transgender students had greater odds of past-year SR-ED diagnosis (odds ratio [OR], 4.62; 95% confidence interval [CI], 3.41-6.26) and past-month use of diet pills (OR, 2.05; 95% CI, 1.48-2.83) and vomiting or laxatives (OR, 2.46; 95% CI, 1.83-3.30). Although cisgender SM men and unsure men and women also had elevated rates of SR-ED diagnosis than heterosexual women, the magnitudes of these associations were lower than those for transgender individuals (ORs; 1.40-1.54)., Conclusions: Transgender and cisgender SM young adults have elevated rates of compensatory behavior and SR-ED diagnosis. Appropriate interventions for these populations are urgently needed., (Copyright © 2015 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)
- Published
- 2015
- Full Text
- View/download PDF