Eating disorders in college men.

OBJECTIVE

This study was designed to assess the characteristics of men with eating disorders in the community.

METHOD: The authors recruited 25 men meeting DSM-IV criteria for eating disorders and 25 comparison men through advertisements in college newspapers. A second comparison group comprised 33 women with bulimia nervosa who were recruited and interviewed with virtually identical methods.

RESULTS

The men with eating disorders closely resembled the women with eating disorders but differed sharply from the comparison men in phenomenology of illness, rates of comorbid psychiatric disorders, and dissatisfaction with body image. Homosexuality did not appear to be a common feature of men with eating disorders in the community. Childhood physical and sexual abuse appeared slightly more common among the eating-disordered men than among the comparison men.

CONCLUSIONS

Eating disorders, although less common in men than in women, appear to display strikingly similar features in affected individuals of the two genders.