About Our Survey
My partner and I decided to survey over a 100 people at UCF about eating disorders, eating habits, and self image. We surveyed people from honors, band, cheerleading, sororities, fraternities, and a number of random general education classes. Roughly 70% of the sample surveyed were female.We ended up surveying 104 people, ages 17-28.
More than 80% felt that the media influences how women perceive themselves. (They either stated they agreed or strongly agreed.) Most people thought that eating disorders are a common problem with women today, and almost everyone pinpointed anorexia and bulimia as the most common eating disorders.
Almost everyone we surveyed knew about the negative effects of eating disorders, which we expected. When we asked whether they knew anyone that seemed unnaturally thin or selfconscious, the majority of the people answered "strongly agree". However, almost no one knew anyone that appeared to rush to the bathroom after every meal. Although the survey is not without its statistical shortcomings, I still found it surprising since nearly everyone listed bulimia and anorexia as the most common eating disorders in college.
These statistics from About.com state:
"As many as 10% of college women suffer from a clinical or nearly clinical eating disorder, including 5.1% who suffer from bulimia nervosa."
Yet no one really knew anyone with bulimia? This brings out an important aspect of eating disorders. People become experts at hiding their problem, from others and themselves. Below I've posted the actual survey and the mean responses.
For each question, they were asked to circle a number.
(1-5, where 1 indicated a negative response and 5 a positive response)
*In parenthesis, I have inputted the mean response, rounded to the nearest tenth, for each question.
1. How do you feel about your appearance? (3.6)
2. How do you feel about yourself? (4.1)
3. Do you eat regular, balanced meals? (3.1)
4. Do you ever skip meals to avoid gaining weight? (2.4)
5. Do you ever find yourself skipping meals to avoid gaining weight? (2.3)
6. Do you ever find yourself overeating? (3.1)
7. If so, do you feel badly afterward? (2.9)
8. Does anyone you know, including yourself, seem unnaturally thin or self-conscious? (3.5)
9. Is there anyone you know that almost always has to rush to the bathroom after a meal? (1.4)
10. Do you know how to be healthy? (4.3)
11. Do you feel that people have eating disorders because they just don't know how to be healthy? (4.3)
12. Do you know how to help a friend or family member with an eating disorder? (2.9)
13. Do you feel that the media influences how women perceive themselves? (4.4)
14. Do you believe that eating disorders are a common problem with women today? (3.8)
15. What do you think is the main cause of eating disorders today? (media influence, pressures, and selfesteem)
16. Do you think eating disorders are an effective strategy to manage your physical appearance? (1.7)
17. Are you aware of the negative effects of eating disorders? (4.5)
18. What do you think are the most common eating disorders? (bulimia, anorexia, or overeating)
19. Do you think that an information session about eating disorders might help this problem? (3.2)
20. Do you think that educating others about eating disorders is an effective way of dealing with this issue? If not, what do you suggest? (3.6)