Study Finds Fat College Males Don't Think They're Fat

In the October 2008 issue of the Journal of Exercise Physiology, study findings from 101 University of Dayton students were published. This study focused on how gender, weight fluctuation, body image, and motivation to solve these problems were related. The study also compared the differences in the findings of men versus women.

Participants were recruited via email and asked to fill out a survey listing their highest and lowest weights over the previous five years. They were also asked questions about their body image and motivation to resolve these issues.

According to population-based interviews, eating disorder rates (bulimia, anorexia, and binge eating) are 5.9% in women and 2.8% in men. This is most likely to happen during adolescence and early adulthood. There were 9 behaviors used to classify the students as at-risk for eating concerns and nine for body image concerns. The average age of students was 19 years old.

Findings

The study found that the more concerns the college students had with body image, the more motivation they had to resolve these issues. The men's weight fluctuated more than that of the women. For men and women, the more their weight fluctuated, the more motivation they had to resolve their weight issues. This level of motivation was the same between these men and women.

Women were much more likely to attempt to lose weight than men but the men were more satisfied with their weight than women. The researchers think that trying harder to lose weight caused the unhealthy behavior of frequent weight fluctuation.

The most interesting findings

The females tried more ways to lose weight than males did. The women were much more likely to change their diet and exercise habits to lose weight, whereas the males usually just tried exercise alone. Men were also less likely to seek help for their eating disorders. The researchers think this may be due to the fact that the obese men were less aware of their overweight than the obese women. This made them less likely to report dissatisfaction with their weight.

This study didn't ask participants to give their race or ethnicity but the study cited findings by others that white college women were more dissatisfied with their weight than black college women. However, the University of Dayton is 91% white, so the participants were most likely white.