College students' mental models for recognizing anorexia and bulimia nervosa

Jennifer S. Hunt; Alexander J. Rothman

doi:10.1016/j.appet.2006.05.013

College students' mental models for recognizing anorexia and bulimia nervosa

Jennifer S. Hunt, Alexander J. Rothman

Psychology (Twin Cities)

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

14 Scopus citations

Abstract

Knowledge about eating disorders influences lay people's ability to recognize individuals with anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN) and refer them to professional treatment. We assessed mental models (stored knowledge) of AN and BN in 106 college students. Results indicated that most students have general, but not specific, information about AN and BN's symptoms, consequences, causes, duration, and cures. They also believe that people with eating disorders tend to be young, White women. These findings suggest that lay recognition of eating disorders may be based primarily on observations of dysfunctional eating behaviors and therefore facilitated by additional knowledge.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	289-300
Number of pages	12
Journal	Appetite
Volume	48
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2006.05.013
State	Published - May 2007

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The authors gratefully acknowledge the research assistance of Kara Mickelson, Anne Stephanson, Jolene Wirkus, and Abby McLaughlin. Marc Kiviniemi, David DiLillo, Simone French, and Marti Hope Gonzales provided helpful feedback on earlier versions of this article. This research was supported in part by a National Science Graduate Research Fellowship to the first author.

Keywords

Anorexia nervosa
Bulimia nervosa
Health attitudes
Mental models of illness

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title = "College students' mental models for recognizing anorexia and bulimia nervosa",

abstract = "Knowledge about eating disorders influences lay people's ability to recognize individuals with anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN) and refer them to professional treatment. We assessed mental models (stored knowledge) of AN and BN in 106 college students. Results indicated that most students have general, but not specific, information about AN and BN's symptoms, consequences, causes, duration, and cures. They also believe that people with eating disorders tend to be young, White women. These findings suggest that lay recognition of eating disorders may be based primarily on observations of dysfunctional eating behaviors and therefore facilitated by additional knowledge.",

keywords = "Anorexia nervosa, Bulimia nervosa, Health attitudes, Mental models of illness",

author = "Hunt, {Jennifer S.} and Rothman, {Alexander J.}",

note = "Funding Information: The authors gratefully acknowledge the research assistance of Kara Mickelson, Anne Stephanson, Jolene Wirkus, and Abby McLaughlin. Marc Kiviniemi, David DiLillo, Simone French, and Marti Hope Gonzales provided helpful feedback on earlier versions of this article. This research was supported in part by a National Science Graduate Research Fellowship to the first author.",

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AU - Rothman, Alexander J.

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PY - 2007/5

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N2 - Knowledge about eating disorders influences lay people's ability to recognize individuals with anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN) and refer them to professional treatment. We assessed mental models (stored knowledge) of AN and BN in 106 college students. Results indicated that most students have general, but not specific, information about AN and BN's symptoms, consequences, causes, duration, and cures. They also believe that people with eating disorders tend to be young, White women. These findings suggest that lay recognition of eating disorders may be based primarily on observations of dysfunctional eating behaviors and therefore facilitated by additional knowledge.

AB - Knowledge about eating disorders influences lay people's ability to recognize individuals with anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN) and refer them to professional treatment. We assessed mental models (stored knowledge) of AN and BN in 106 college students. Results indicated that most students have general, but not specific, information about AN and BN's symptoms, consequences, causes, duration, and cures. They also believe that people with eating disorders tend to be young, White women. These findings suggest that lay recognition of eating disorders may be based primarily on observations of dysfunctional eating behaviors and therefore facilitated by additional knowledge.

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College students' mental models for recognizing anorexia and bulimia nervosa

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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