SSRP Abstract

Board 20: Eating Disorders Among College Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the United States: A Narrative Review

Student Scientist: Brooke Hall ’23
Research Mentor: Parvati Singh (Division of Epidemiology, The Ohio State University)

Eating disorders are comprised of six distinct categories including anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder all that negatively alter one’s health and daily life. It is well known that eating disorder behaviors such as restriction, binging, purging, and excessive exercise can follow uncertain life events such as the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. My narrative review analyzed previous research to evaluate how eating disorder behavior in U.S. college students was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Eating disorders are a broad range of conditions involving negative eating behaviors such as binging and excessive exercise that alter one’s health and daily life. Young adults are at heightened risk of developing eating disorders due to life changes during college years. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to job loss, financial difficulties, food insecurity, and uncertainty about the future. This narrative review investigates how the COVID-19 pandemic influenced eating disorder behavior in United States college students. Relevant articles were retrieved from PubMed, CINAHL Plus, and Web of Science in June 2022. Specific sets of search terms were used to find useful articles to review. Included studies were done during March 2020 to June 2022 and examined U.S. college students changes in eating behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic. Seven relevant studies were included. Four were cross-sectional descriptive studies with three being longitudinal descriptive studies. Across the seven studies, there was an approximate total of 13,051 college students assessed. The studies analyzed stress, anxiety, change in food choices, and eating behaviors following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Stress and anxiety were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and influenced an increase in maladaptive eating behaviors such as overeating and undereating in college students. Students who faced food insecurity or who lived independently exhibited an increase in overeating techniques, specifically binge-eating and bulimia nervosa, more so than restrictive disorders such as anorexia nervosa. The coronavirus pandemic aggravated stress, anxiety, food insecurity and independent living. Exacerbation of these factors has led to increases in poor eating behaviors such as food restriction and over-indulgence, all that can increase risk for developing eating disorders.