Francine Rosselli

To examine prevalence and correlates (gender, Body Mass Index) of disordered eating in American Indian/Native American (AI/NA) and white young adults. We examined data from the 10,334 participants (mean age 21.93 years, SD = 1.8) of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (ADD Health) Wave III for gender differences among AI/NA participants (236 women, 253 men) and ethnic group differences on measures of eating pathology. Among AI/NA groups, women were significantly more likely than men to report loss of control and embarrassment due to overeating. In gender-stratified analyses, a significantly higher prevalence of AI/NA women reported disordered eating behaviors compared with white women; there were no between group differences in prevalence for breakfast skipping or having been diagnosed with an eating disorder. Among men, disordered eating behaviors were uncommon and no comparison was statistically significant. Our study offers a first glimpse into the problem of eat...

To examine trends in weight control practices from 1995 to 2005. The Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System biennially assesses five weight control behaviors among nationally representative samples of United States high school students. Across time, more females than males dieted (53.8% vs. 23.8%), used diet products (10% vs. 4.3%), purged (7.5% vs. 2.7%), exercised (66.5% vs. 46.9%), or vigorously exercised (42.8% vs. 36.8%). All weight control behaviors among males increased during the decade. Black females were less likely than Hispanic females, who were less likely than White females, to practice weight control. White males were less likely than Black males, who were less likely than Hispanic males, to practice weight control. The ethnic difference in weight control practices is consistent across time. All male adolescents are at increasing risk for developing eating disorder symptomatology, and Black females appear to continue to resist pressure to pursue thinness.

To compare health-care utilization between participants who met DSM-IV criteria for binge eating disorder (BED) and those engaged in recurrent binge eating (RBE) and to evaluate whether objective binge eating (OBE) days, a key measurement for diagnosing BED, predicted health-care costs. We obtained utilization and cost data from electronic medical records to augment patient reported data for 100 adult female members of a large health maintenance organization who were enrolled in a randomized clinical trial to treat binge eating. Total costs did not differ between the BED and RBE groups (β = -0.117, z = -0.48, p = .629), nor did the number of OBE days predict total costs (β = -0.017, z = -1.01, p = .313). Findings suggest that the medical impairment, as assessed through health care costs, caused by BED may not be greater than impairment caused by RBE. The current threshold number of two OBE days/week as a criterion for BED may need to be reconsidered.

To examine the relationship between social class status, experiences of classism, and psychosocial and school-related outcomes, 950 undergraduates at a liberal arts school completed a survey assessing their college experiences. Social class, race, and gender were hypothesized to predict experiences of classism, which were then expected to relate to psychosocial and school outcomes. The multivariate model was tested via path