A recent study conducted by the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom believes there may be a link between financial stress and eating disorder symptoms among young women.
Four hundred undergraduate students were questioned about their financial worries and how they felt about food. The participants were asked about their personal finances as well as their family life. The EAT (Eating Attitudes Test), which is a standardized testing system with the capability of spotting eating disorder symptoms, was utilized to analyze the results.
The testing was conducted on the same group of women four separate times, approximately three to four months apart. The results showed that financial stress in the first set of surveys indicated eating disorder issues by the third or fourth round. Interestingly, men were not affected in this way – only college-age women.
The study also discovered that women from a lower financial affluent family background typically had a higher EAT score, indicating that women with greater financial stress may have more eating disorder issues.
According to a Fox News report, “Higher initial EAT scores also predicted more financial difficulty in the second round of surveys, which suggested a two-way link between higher financial stress and severe attitudes about food.”
Thomas Richardson, lead author of the study and a clinical psychologist at Southampton University stated:
It may be that those at higher risk of having an eating disorder feel like they have no control over events in their life, such as their financial situation, and they may then restrict their eating as a way of exercising control in other areas of their life.
He goes on to say, “These links need to be further explored to determine causal mechanisms for the relationship between financial difficulties and eating attitudes.”
Have you had your annual well-women exam yet? If not, schedule an appointment with a women’s health professional in your area as soon as possible. Your physical and mental well-being is highly important and it is critical that you find a doctor who can evaluate what unhealthy stressors you may be experiencing in your life.
