Eating disorders and academic performance among college students

Area of Science:

• Psychiatry
• Higher Education Studies
• Public Health

Background:

• Research on the relationship between eating disorders (EDs) and academic performance (AP) is limited.
• Understanding how ED treatment impacts AP is crucial for supporting college students.
• Existing literature lacks comprehensive data on ED treatment outcomes for academic success.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between eating disorder treatment and academic performance in college students.
• To determine if students diagnosed with anorexia or bulimia who receive treatment achieve higher GPAs.
• To contribute empirical evidence to the under-researched area of EDs and AP.

Main Methods:

• Utilized data from the Spring 2010 - Spring 2011 National College Health Assessment (N=231,586).
• Employed ordinal logistic regressions to analyze the relationship between ED diagnosis (anorexia, bulimia) and GPA.
• Controlled for key confounding variables to ensure robust analysis of ED treatment effects on AP.

Main Results:

• Students with anorexia treated with medication were 1.49 times more likely to have a higher GPA.
• Students with bulimia treated with psychotherapy were 1.35 times more likely to have a higher GPA.
• Both findings were statistically significant (p < .0001 and p = .0009, respectively), indicating a positive impact of ED treatment on AP.

Conclusions:

• Treatment for eating disorders, including medication and psychotherapy, is associated with improved academic performance in college students.
• Findings suggest that interventions for EDs may positively influence GPA, expanding the literature on EDs and AP.
• Further research is warranted to explore the optimal combination of treatments for enhancing AP in students with EDs.