Prevalence and demographic, substance use, and mental health correlates of fasting among U.S. college students

Journal of Eating Disorders

Rachel F. Rodgers¹  Stuart B. Murray²  Jason M. Nagata³  Kyle T. Ganson⁴ 

[1] APPEAR, Department of Applied Psychology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA;Department of Psychiatric Emergency & Acute Care, Lapeyronie Hospital, CHRU Montpellier, Montpellier, France;Department of Psychiatry and the Behavioral Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA;Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, University of California, 550 16th Street, Box 0110, San Francisco, 94158, San Francisco, CA, USA;Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada;

关键词: Fasting;    Substance use;    Mental health symptoms;    Eating disorders;    College students;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s40337-021-00443-3

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundFasting is an unhealthy behavior that has been frequently used as part of weight loss attempts. To date, little research has been conducted to determine the prevalence and substance use and mental health correlates of fasting among college students. Therefore, the aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence and associations between any (≥ 1 time) and regular (≥ 13 times) occurrences of fasting in the past 4 weeks and substance use and mental health correlates among a large sample of college students from 2016 to 2020.MethodsData from four academic survey years (2016–2020; N = 8255) of the national (USA) Healthy Minds Study were analyzed. Unadjusted prevalence of any and regular fasting by survey year and gender was estimated. Multiple logistic regression analyses were conducted to estimate the associations between any and regular fasting and the demographic (age, body mass index, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, highest parental education), substance use (cigarette use, marijuana use, other illicit drug use, alcohol use), and mental health (depression, anxiety, eating disorder symptoms, suicidal ideation, non-suicidal self-injury) correlates.ResultsAny fasting in the past 4 weeks was common among both men (14.77%) and women (18.12%) and significantly increased from 2016 (10.30%) to 2020 (19.81%) only among men. Regular fasting significantly increased among both men and women from 2016 (men: 1.46%; women: 1.79%) to 2020 (men: 3.53%; women: 6.19%). Among men and women, both any and regular fasting in the past 4 weeks were associated with higher odds of all mental health symptoms, including a positive depression, anxiety, and eating disorder screen, suicidal ideation, and non-suicidal self-injury. Among women, but not men, any and regular fasting in the past 4 weeks were associated with higher odds of marijuana use and other illicit drug use (e.g., cocaine, ecstasy).ConclusionsThe results from this study underscore both the high and increasing prevalence of fasting among a national sample of college students, as well as the substance use and mental health symptoms associated with this behavior. Healthcare professionals both on and off campus should consider screening for fasting behaviors among college students and provide appropriate intervention when needed.

【 授权许可】

CC BY