Disordered eating patterns and alcohol misuse in college students: evidence for “drunkorexia”?

Osborne, Victoria; Sher, Kenneth J.; Winograd, Rachel P.

doi:10.1016/j.comppsych.2011.04.038

Cited by 20 publications

(19 citation statements)

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“…Our findings are also consistent with other studies, in that approximately 18 per cent of our students engage in intentional caloric restriction prior to alcohol use (Burke et al, 2010;Osborne et al, 2011). For the women in Study 2, intentionally restricting food intake prior to alcohol use was associated with greater disordered eating, alcohol problems and symptoms of depression and anxiety.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 94%

Exploring the motives and mental health correlates of intentional food restriction prior to alcohol use in university students

Roosen

Mills

2015

J Health Psychol

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This study explored the prevalence of and motivations behind 'drunkorexia' – restricting food intake prior to drinking alcohol. For both male and female university students (N = 3409), intentionally changing eating behaviour prior to drinking alcohol was common practice (46%). Analyses performed on a targeted sample of women (n = 226) revealed that food restriction prior to alcohol use was associated with greater symptomology than eating more food. Those who restrict eating prior to drinking to avoid weight gain scored higher on measures of disordered eating, whereas those who restrict to get intoxicated faster scored higher on measures of alcohol abuse.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 94%

Exploring the motives and mental health correlates of intentional food restriction prior to alcohol use in university students

Roosen

Mills

2015

J Health Psychol

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“…Prior studies have shown that the co-occurrence of alcohol misuse and clinical eating disorders is largely represented by young female college students (Anderson, Martens, & Cimini, 2005;Barry, Whiteman, Piazza-Gardner, & Jensen, 2013). Additionally, female college students have been suggested to have a much higher risk of drunkorexia, three times more common in females then men (Osborne et al, 2011).…”

Section: Participantsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Past empirical studies that have examined the phenomenon of drunkorexia have provided evidence for a significant percentage of university students in the USA engaging in purported drunkorexia behaviours (Barry & Piazza-Gardner, 2012;Burke et al, 2010;Giles, Champion, Sutfin, McCoy, & Wagoner, 2009;Keathley, Avans, & Sandlin, 2011;Osborne, Sher, & Winograd, 2011;Peralta, 2002;Rahal et al, 2012). Peralta (2002) was the first to empirically explore whether alcohol consumption may be a specific reason to engage in disordered eating and other weight-management behaviour amongst undergraduate university students.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Drunkorexia: An Empirical Investigation among Australian Female University Students

Knight

Castelnuovo²,

Pietrabissa³

et al. 2017

Australian Psychologist

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Objective: Anecdotal claims insinuate that female Australian university students may be engaging in a new type of hazardous phenomena called "drunkorexia" (i.e., using disordered eating to compensate for planned binge drinking). However, to date, this conjecture has not been validated by empirical evidence. The primary aim of the present study was to estimate the frequency of drunkorexia behaviours in a population of non-clinical Australian undergraduate female university students. A secondary aim was to explore whether drunkorexia may be a stand-alone problem, separate from traditional eating disorders. Methods: One hundred and thirty-six healthy female Australian undergraduate university students between 18 and 25 years (M=21.32, SD=2.73) completed the self-report Compensatory Eating and Behaviors in Response to Alcohol Consumption Scale to screen for drunkorexia symptomatology. Results: Among the study sample, 57.7% (n = 85) of Australian female university students reported drunkorexia-type behaviours 25% of the time or more, while 27.2% (n = 37) reported no drunkorexia-type behaviour. In addition, 16.2 8% (n = 22) of the participants reported engaging in characteristic drunkorexic behaviours to specifically offset ingested alcohol calories while not engaging in such behaviours routinely for any other reason or with any other type of food or drink. Conclusions: Results of this study add preliminary empirical evidence that a number of Australian female university students are employing drunkorexia-type behaviours as a way to drink alcohol without the concern of ingested calories. Further evidence is needed to definitively conclude that drunkorexia represents a distinctive problem that is separate from traditional eating disorders.

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“…Research indicates a growing number of students are engaging in recurrent inappropriate compensatory behaviors to prevent weight gain from drinking alcohol (Bryant et al, 2012;Burke et al, 2010;Giles et al, 2009;Osborne, Sher, & Winograd, 2011;.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Drunkorexia was confirmed to be prevalent among female students (Barry & Piazza-Gardner, 2012;Burke et al, 2010;Osborne et al, 2011) older than 18 years, with dieting and exercising after alcohol consumption representing the most common strategies adopted to facilitate alcohol consumption without gaining weight.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Drunkorexia: empirical investigation and analysis of the characteristics of the phenomenon in an Italian sample of adolescents and young adults

Pietrabissa¹,

Gaudenzi²,

Bertuzzi³

et al. 2018

PSYE

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Introduction: the term drunkorexia refers to the act of self-imposed utilization of extreme weight control methods to compensate for alcohol consumption typically observed among university students. Despite its diffusion, there is a lack of research investigating the presence of this new alarming trend in Italy. Aim: this study estimates the frequency of drunkorexia behaviours in a sample of Italian youth aged 14-24, explores the motivations for alcohol consumption among those presenting drunkorexia-type behaviours, and examines the relationship between drunkorexia and disordered eating. Methods: drunkorexia behaviors, eating habits and motives for alcohol use were investigated in 403 subjects (F=301, M=102) aged 14-24 through self-report questionnaires. A series of analyses, including descriptive statistics, univariate analysis of the variance and multiple regressions were run. Results: 62.5% of the sample showed drunkorexia-type behaviours. Drunkorexia was related to disordered eating, especially among females older than eighteen. Discussion and Conclusions: this the first study investigating the incidence of drunkorexia behaviors in a sample of youth living in Northern Italy. Evidence-based interventions for eating disorders and drinking problems should inspire the development of ad hoc preventive and treatment actions for drunkorexia.

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Disordered eating patterns and alcohol misuse in college students: evidence for “drunkorexia”?

Cited by 20 publications

References 0 publications

Exploring the motives and mental health correlates of intentional food restriction prior to alcohol use in university students

Exploring the motives and mental health correlates of intentional food restriction prior to alcohol use in university students

Drunkorexia: An Empirical Investigation among Australian Female University Students

Drunkorexia: empirical investigation and analysis of the characteristics of the phenomenon in an Italian sample of adolescents and young adults

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