A study of eating behaviour among obese and non- obese college women

A sample of 400 college women, were selected to evaluate eating disorder among underweight, normal weight, overweight and obese college women. Age of the subjects was ranged from 18 to25 years. Body Mass Index of all the subjects was determined by dividing their body weight in kilogram by the height in meter2. On the basis of Body Mass Index (BMI), the subjects were divided into four categories-: underweight, normal weight, overweight and obese. Each group consist of 100 subject. Eating Attitude Test (Eat-26) (Garner et.al.1982) was used to measure eating disorder of the subjects. To compare the underweight, normal weight, overweight and obese college women on eating behavior and its subscales namely bulimia, dieting, oral control and binge eating analysis of variance (ANOVA) was employed. Findings revealed that underweight, normal weight, over-weight and obese college women having similar tendency for binge eating and purge. Underweight women show more selfcontrol overeating. Overweight college women were having more eating disorder of dieting. Overweight women were also having more disorder of eating attitude as compare to their counterparts.