The increasing prevalence of bulimia in freshman college students

A self-report questionnaire designed to elicit the DSM-III inclusion criteria for bulimia was completed by 1389 students (95.9% of those surveyed) from the same geographic area surveyed 3 years previously. Approximately 8% of the female students endorsed the criteria for bulimia in each survey. Even with the more stringent criteria used in the current survey, the percentage of female students who reported all the operationalized criteria for bulimia and in addition engaged in weekly binge-purging behavior increased from 1% in 1980 to 3.2% in 1983. The female college students reporting bulimia in the current survey more closely resembled the bulimic patients coming for treatment than those in the previous survey, particularly in the reported frequency of daily binge eating, self-induced vomiting for weight control, and the endorsement of DSM-III Criterion B behaviors. Validation studies indicated that self-report questionnaires may not correctly identify binge eating, fear of loss of control over eating behaviors, or self-deprecatory thoughts after binge eating, when compared with professional assessment by interview.