Conflicting Gender Role Prescriptions and Disordered Eating in Single Sex and Coeducational School Environments.

This paper reviews the findings reported by Dyer and Tiggemann (1996) in Australia studying the effect of single sex versus coeducational school environments on body concerns in adolescent females. It details the reasons why parents and their children choose to be educated in single sex versus coeducational environments; and reviews literature revealing that single sex education tends to promote adherence to particularly confusing gender role attitudes. The paper then describes the connection between disordered eating and a sense of gender ambivalence resulting from increased exposure to conflicting gender role prescriptions. Based on the argument developed, it is predicted that girls attending single sex schools will exhibit greater body dissatisfaction and eating disorder symptomatology than their counterparts. The hypothesis is tested and supported in a re-analysis of the data. The paper concludes with a discussion of the counterintuitive nature of these findings and future implications of the research. (Contains 47 references and 3 tables.) (Author/JDM)