Concerns related to eating, weight, and shape: typologies and transitions in men during the college years

How to best classify concerns related to eating, weight, and shape (CREWS) in men remains an open question. Research on men considering CREWS during different developmental periods could be particularly informative.

Focusing on one potentially dynamic developmental period, this study charts the course of CREWS in men over the college years. Latent class/latent transition analysis identified typologies of weight- and shape-influenced self judgment, limiting attempts, fasting, overeating, binge eating, self-induced vomiting, and laxative or diuretic abuse for 1,025 men over the four traditional college years.

Three classes emerged: (1) no obvious pathological eating-related concerns (61-65%); (2) a high likelihood of limiting attempts and a moderately high likelihood of overeating (31-34%); (3) pervasive bulimic-like concerns (4-6%). Class membership was highly stable across assessment occasions.

The results contribute to the growing literature on empirically derived classifications of CREWS and indicate that for many men CREWS are a chronic presence during the college years.