J Korean Acad Womens Health Nurs.  1998 Dec;4(3):388-401.

Relationship between Eating Disorder, Physical Symptoms and Mood Status among College Women

• Lee KE
• Kim NS

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between the eating disorder, physical symptoms and mood status among college women. Data has been analyzed by SPSS/PC using frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, t-test, Pearson correlation coefficient. The results of this study are as follows : 1. The mean of body weight and height of the subjects were 52.74kg, 163.10cm. 2. Depending upon BMI, the obesity subjects were very rare(2.2%) and the rest(97.8%) were underweight or normal. 3. The total mean score of anorexia nervosa was higher than bulimia nervosa. 4. The total mean score of perceived physical symptoms was 20.68 and subjects in this study showed the tendency giving the highest core on the item of autonomic nerve system and menstural status. 5. The total mean score of mood status was 58.49. 6. The scores of eating behavior differed significantly by the BMI : The score was highest in the group of normal body weighted(t=5.75, p<.05). 7. The scores of physical symptoms differed significantly by the BMI : The score was highest in the group of the underweight(t=7.35, p<.01). 8. No significant difference was found on over all mood status scores according to the BMI. 9. There was high positive correlation between BMI and eating disorder(r=.1633, p<.01), between eating disorder and physical symptoms(r=.2497, p<.0001), between eating disorder and mood status(r=.2328, p<.0001), and between symptoms and mood status(r=.5051, p<.0001). From the results of this study, the eating disorder among college woman was very serious and the perception of their body weight was distorted. Therefore, to prevent the eating disorder, professional intervention is needed.

MeSH Terms

Anorexia Nervosa
Autonomic Pathways
Body Weight
Bulimia Nervosa
Feeding and Eating Disorders*
Eating*
Feeding Behavior
Female
Humans
Obesity
Thinness