How to best classify concerns related to eating, weight, and shape (CREWS) in men remains an open question. Research on men considering CREWS during different developmental periods could be particularly informative. Focusing on one potentially dynamic developmental period, the current study charts the course of CREWS in men over the college years. Latent class/latent transition analysis identified typologies of weight- and shape-influenced self judgment, limiting attempts, fasting, overeating, binge eating, self-induced vomiting, and laxative or diuretic abuse for 1,025 men over the four traditional college years. Three classes emerged: (1) no obvious pathological eating-related concerns (61–65%); (2) a high likelihood of limiting attempts and a moderately high likelihood of overeating (31–34%); (3) pervasive bulimic-like concerns (4–6%). Class membership was highly stable across assessment occasions. The results contribute to the growing literature on empirically derived classifications of CREWS and indicate that for many men CREWS are a chronic presence during the college years.

These results highlight the interpersonal context for dieting and the unique relationship between weight/shape self-efficacy and dieting.

Although college women are known to be at high risk for eating-related problems, relatively little is known about how various aspects of concerns related to eating, weight, and shape are patterned syndromally in this population. Moreover, the extent to which various patterns represent stable conditions or transitory states during this dynamic period of development is unclear. The current study used latent class and latent transition analysis (LCA/LTA) to derive syndromes of concerns related to eating, weight, and shape and movement across these syndromes in a sample of 1,498 women ascertained as first-time freshmen and studied over four years. LCA identified five classes characterized by: (1) no obvious pathological eating-related concerns (prevalence: 28 to 34%); (2) a high likelihood of limiting attempts (prevalence: 29 to 34%); (3) a high likelihood of overeating (prevalence: 14 to 18%); (4) a high likelihood of limiting attempts and overeating or binge eating (prevalence: 14 to 17%); and (5) pervasive bulimic-like concerns (prevalence: 6 to 7%). Membership in each latent class tended to be stable over time. When movement occurred, it tended to be to a less severe class. These findings indicate that there are distinct, prevalent, and relatively stable forms of eating-related concerns in college women.

Objective-This study investigated how the precursors of interpersonal self-efficacy and weight/ shape self-efficacy would interact in the face of interpersonal stress to prospectively predict dietary restraint. Three models were explored, each with a different type of interpersonal stress: stress from same sex friendships, opposite sex friendships, or romantic relationships.Method-At Time 1 (T1), participants (N = 406) reported on their typical levels of interpersonal self-efficacy and weight/shape self-efficacy, and recent (past 28 days) dietary restraint. At Time 2 (T2), 11 weeks after T1, participants reported on their recent (past 28 days) levels of dietary restraint at that time. Between T1 and T2, participants completed inventories weekly on the previous week's interpersonal stressors.Results-Consistent with prediction, low interpersonal self-efficacy and high weight/shape selfefficacy combined with high interpersonal stress (whether from same sex friendships, opposite sex friendships, or romantic relationships) to predict the highest levels of T2 dietary restraint after controlling for T1 levels.Conclusion-These results further link the interpersonal domain with dietary restraint and elucidate characteristics of women particularly apt to increase dietary restraint in response to interpersonal stress.Dietary restraint is often touted as a path to more than just weight loss. For example, research suggests that women diet to seek social acceptance through their resulting weight loss1. When experiencing interpersonal stress, women with high self-efficacy related to attaining a desired body weight/shape but low interpersonal self-efficacy may thus turn to dieting to both regain a sense of self-efficacy and to indirectly work toward interpersonal change. The current study investigates the association between dietary restraint and the combination of interpersonal self-efficacy, weight/shape self-efficacy, and interpersonal stress.Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Anna M. Bardone Interpersonal relationships can be a key component of self, particularly for women2. Relationship difficulties can thus threaten women's sense of self. This may help explain the devastating emotional and psychological impact when relationships end or are feared to end3 -4. Yet, relationships inherently involve lack of control to some degree, given that they are dependent on other's reciprocation. A coping strategy for interpersonal stress that would counter this lack of control would involve engaging in behaviors that promote self-efficacy (confidence in ability to successfully execute behaviors necessary for desired outcomes5). When women have low interpersonal self-efficacy (i.e., they feel little confidence in their ability to directly influence their relationships in their desired direction, e.g., through social skills) but high self-efficacy in another domain (e.g., appearance), they may consequently cope by exercising control in the domain in which they have high self-efficacy. Links between the ...

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