Confirmation among college women: the eating disorders not otherwise specified diagnostic profile.

Unlabelled: Previously, the researchers proposed and tested a diagnostic framework for women with eating-related concerns who seek college health and mental health treatment. The framework emphasized moderate problems characterized by frequent binging, occasional purging, and frequent exercise; rumination; body image and self-esteem concerns; ambivalence about help seeking; and developmental themes. Several questions remained about the framework's generalizability beyond women in treatment.

Objective: In the current study, the authors provide new support for the framework's generalizability to college women with clinically significant eating concerns who do not seek treatment.

Participants And Methods: Female students (N = 112) completed a screening instrument providing descriptive and comparative data about primary symptoms, associated features, and help seeking.

Results: Results suggested that the framework is specific to women with eating problems and does not suffer the pitfalls of applying over-generally to all college women or all female patients and clients.

Conclusions: Implications for practice, research limitations, and remaining questions are discussed.