BY BTL STAFF
A recent article published in the August issue of The Journal of Adolescent Health, the official journal of the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine, has discovered a greater prevalence of eating disorders in transgender college students compared to their cisgender counterparts.
The study, carried out by members of Washington University at St. Louis, accessed data from 289,024 students from 223 U.S. universities who participated in the American College Health Association-National College Health Assessment II, a national survey of a broad range of health behaviors, outcomes and perceptions among college students.
To identify eating disorders, students were asked if they have been diagnosed or treated by a professional for anorexia or bulimia in the past year. Both cisgender and transgender students identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, heterosexual or unsure.
Nearly 16 percent of transgender students responded that they had been diagnosed with an eating disorder in the past year while cisgender students fell between .55 percent for heterosexual men and 3.66 percent for sexuality-unsure men. Cisgender lesbian, gay, bisexual and unsure men and women were two to four times more likely to have been diagnosed with an eating disorder than heterosexual men and women.
The study also measured past-month diet pill use. Thirteen percent of transgender students reported using diet pills within the past month with 1.8 percent of heterosexual men and 4.29 percent of heterosexual women having reported using diet pills.
"Transgender individuals may use disordered eating behaviors to suppress or accentuate particular gendered features. It has been suggested that striving for weight loss may be a way for transgender women to conform to feminine ideals of slimness and attractiveness," said the authors of the study, led by Dr. Alexis E. Duncan.
Another reason, the authors point out, is a common trigger of eating disorders is stress, and there is research to suggest the stress levels in these individuals is elevated as a result of belonging to a stigmatized social category.
"Among lesbian, gay and bisexual individuals, a strong link has been found between higher levels of minority stress and poorer mental health outcomes. The same mechanisms are likely at play in transgender individuals, who may be exposed to substantial amounts of discrimination, both on an interpersonal and societal level," said the authors.
