We will be collecting data from college students at Penn State Behrend examining the relationship among food insecurity, disordered eating, and climate anxiety. Previous studies show that food insecure populations are more likely to experience psychological stress, meal skipping, and other irregular eating patterns, weight change, depression/depression symptoms, body dissatisfaction, and drive for thinness making food insecurity a potential risk factor for eating disorders (Barry et al., 2021; Hazzard et al., 2022). The American Psychological Association’s Stress in America Survey found that 51% of respondents listed climate change as a large source of stress; younger generations have also expressed greater concern for climate change than older adults (Clayton & Karazsia, 2020). While there has been research conducted on the influence of food insecurity on disordered eating, little to no research has been conducted on the combined impact of food insecurity and climate anxiety on disordered eating.
We are collecting online data using valid and reliable measures of eating disorder pathology, climate anxiety, and food insecurity from college students. We will collect data from approximately 500 students; our a priori hypotheses propose that both climate anxiety and food insecurity will predict higher rates of eating disorder pathology. We also propose that gender and SES will mediate these relationships. Our work will describe these relationships and discuss the importance of examining messaging around climate change to address its unintended negative impact on eating pathology, especially in food insecure populations.
Researchers
Wilson Brown
Pearl Patterson
