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The Relationship Between Eating Disorders and Conformity in Female College Students
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by Natalie Nicole Smith and Chuck Ransford* - Hillsdale College
Categories: Gender | Health | Personality | Social
The relation between conformity and eating disorders was investigated in female college students. Undergraduate college women answered questions from the Cooperativeness (formerly Conformity) subscale of the Jackson Personality Inventory and completed the Eating Disorders Inventory (EDI). Results indicated a significant positive correlation between conformity scores and EDI scores. Sorority members scored significantly higher than nonsorority members on both the conformity scale and the EDI. These findings are congruent with Gaylor, Meilman, and von Hippel (1991) who focused on the relationship between sorority membership, pressure to be thin, and the incidence of eating disorders.