The prevalence of eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa,
bulimia, as well as subclinical eating and body image problems,
increases substantially during the transition from high school
to college. While an estimated 1% to 3% of the general U.S.
population meet formal diagnostic criteria for an eating
disorder (Hudson, Hirpi, Pope, & Kessler, 2007), a 7-10%
prevalence has been reported for college students (Raghavan &
Gates, 2007). In addition to formal DSM-IVTR (American
Psychiatric Association, 2000) clinical syndromes, surveys
indicate that 12-20% of college women report disturbed weight
control behaviors and/or eating attitudes (Nelson, Gortmaker,
Subramanian, Cheung, & Wechsler, 2007; Sira & Pawlak, 2010).
Other research has found weight control and body image problems
among college students that include some, but not all, of the
criteria for a DSMIVTR eating disorder. Many of these college
women qualify for a DSM-IV diagnosis of Eating Disorder--Not
Otherwise Specified. While distorted body image is a