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Drunkorexia: the Latest College Trend
Is one of your friends engaging in drunkorexia? Get help.
Featured Author:
Kathryn Knight Randolph
Since 2007, Kathryn has been working in higher education – first, as an admissions officer for DePauw University and now as an editor for Fastweb.
Her work in this field has driven a passion for providing students with the most current advice on how to pay for school, successfully navigate the college admissions process, and manage the transition from high school to college student life.
Kathryn holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, where she majored in English Writing and minored in Sociology and History.
She has been working at Fastweb and living in Chicago for four years – minus a seven-month stint abroad in South America and Europe. Besides traveling, she loves running, reading fiction classics and cooking. Follow her on Twitter at @KRandolph37.
By Kathryn Knight Randolph
October 20, 2011
A disturbing new trend is rearing its head at many college campuses across the country. It’s referred to as “drunkorexia” and its name aptly defines the condition. The term first surfaced in 2008, and a recent study from the University of Missouri claims that college women are succumbing to drunkorexia more than ever.
In a New York Times article in 2008, drunkorexia, or drunkorexics, were defined as “college-age binge drinkers, typically women, who starve all day to offset the calories in the alcohol they consume. The term is also associated with serious eating disorders, particularly bulimia, which often involve behavior like bingeing on food — and alcohol — and then purging.”
While the definition hasn’t changed, the amount of college-aged women who could be pegged as drunkorexics is increasing. The University of Missouri study found that 1 in 6 college-aged women, and that three times as many women as men, engage in drunkorexia, according to the New York Daily News. Researchers listed that the main motivations behind drunkorexia were “staying slim, getting intoxicated faster, and saving money that would otherwise be spent on food to buy alcohol.”
This behavior not only has physical implications for students in college but has its long term effects as well. In an interview with the New York Daily News, researcher Victoria Osborne said, “Apart from each other, depriving the brain of adequate nutrition and consuming large amounts of alcohol can be dangerous…Together, they can cause short- and long-term cognitive problems including difficulty concentrating, studying, and making decisions." The study added that engaging in this type of behavior has long-term consequences, that “women can get sick faster and suffer damage to vital organs sooner than men might.”
So, what can you do if one of your friends is engaging in drunkorexia?
Ask for help.
Fortunately, college students have resources on their college campus for this type of situation. Every campus offers counseling services, and the cost is already paid for by your student fees.
While it may not be feasible to talk your friend into visiting with a counselor, you still can. Your college counselors are adept at talking through the problem as well as possible solutions. They can provide you with best practices for helping your friend without ruining the relationship.
If you, yourself, are engaging in this type of behavior, you can reach out to your campus counseling services. Your campus counselors will help you through the problem with no judgment and the utmost confidentiality.
Be supportive.
With this type of behavior, chances are, there are issues outside of just “having a good time.” Your friend could have very low self-esteem because of their body image or tough economic circumstances that their family is facing.
The best thing you can do for your friend is to be supportive. Offer up alternative activities to going out on your college campus, like a movie or late-night dinner. Shower them with positive reinforcement when they make healthy, responsible decisions.
With your support, they’ll be on a better path to recovery.
For more information on help for college students abusing alcohol, visit collegedrinkingprevention.gov.
bchbum9
6 months ago
I can relate why people do this, college pressures you to drink and girls especially can be very insecure about their bodies. They can see this hot guy with a girl who is just stunning and you take a look at yourself and it just makes you feel like crap. So in order to make themselves feel better they consume alcohol and then they don't eat thinking it can make them skinnier.
Princenate93
7 months ago
These people's minds weren't healthy in the first place. Otherwise they never would have engaged in such risky behavior. As college students I would expect these people to be able to see what this stupid habit would do to their bodies and minds. And its especially bad when the teachers start noticing what is going on. Smh.
Alexbks65
7 months ago
Sometimes I wonder why people do this to themselves. Why you would want to destroy yourself; but then I look at what all is going on in the world and I look at it through their eyes. They don't see any hope or believe that if they don't look or act a certain way all is lost. Just thinking that and almost believing that makes me want to put myself in a fog.
But I don't, I see what all good is happening, and there is hope! You don't have to be skinny or perfect skin (thank God) to succeed. Be yourself and if you keep yourself healthy and good hygiene you'll find just as many if not more people who will like/want to be around you.
Account Removed
7 months ago
HunterN8, I'm sure they do, but there's a movement toward using "they" and "their" as gender-neutral pronouns, as "he or she" and "his or her" are both cumbersome and exclusive (depending on personal pronoun preference, they may not allow for the phrase to be referring to a genderless, genderqueer, and/or intersex person). I'm not thrilled with a plural pronoun doubling up as a singular one myself, but it's often less awkward than saying "zie," in my opinion.
KrystalB376
7 months ago
I have noticed this trend actually. I have seen people and heard friends say this before. More than anything I think it just shows how people are looking for something to feel better. People are hurting and sometime they don't want help. :-( But there are people who care and God who wants to know them. He is just as sad that people are hurting.
Ti74Raven
7 months ago
@LestatII You would think that, but it seems nowadays that a degree can cost you as many entry level jobs as it gets you. I don't even have a degree and I've been told I'm overqualified before and people less qualified get the job over me. Which I don't know how you can get less qualified than "I barely have any paid work experience" but it's happened, and I've been stuck out of work for almost two years now and down to my last pennies, living off the odd job now fixing this or that etc, can't seem to get any scholarships or grants, but I despise loans and bankers.
Look at the occupy wall street movements, a LOT of those people have degrees in VERY good fields, tough fields. A lot of them even have multiple degrees in engineering and science fields. And they can't even find a job. A degree is no garuntee of an easy glide through life, it's a slip of paper that someone down the line MAY look at and go "Oh, well that's shiny, I think I want the person with the shiny paper." But more oft than not they'll take the person they like the best in a high school ish sort of way.
LestatII
7 months ago
IMPHO People that do this are sick in the head or just plain stupid. If someone feels they honestly HAVE to get drunk to have a good time, they are either naive or sadly mislead. Sure getting drunk is fun, but your health and education should take priority. If you are in college, you should be there because you want to secure a better future. If you are there because your parents forced you, then you should drop out, get a job and try the real world with just a high school diploma. That'll give you a real eye opener, it'll also give you an appreciation for your parent(s)' good intentions and their generosity.
College is for learning how to function in society and gain skills that are useful in a job that will actually (or should) pay the bills and earn a comfortable living while doing something you are interested or have a passion in. Partying is a stress reliever not a major.
-This has been "Lestat II's Two Cents".
HunterN8
7 months ago
Don't they teach English Writing majors at DePauw that the pronoun their is a plural pronoun and therefore doesn't work with the singular friend? I'm just saying.
mrbarbkn
7 months ago
people don't do this?
AdrianC157
7 months ago
Honestly? This whole concept is dumb. If you look at how many calories are in something like vodka it would really surprise you. Nearly all college kids drink casually, and much less are binge drinkers. I would consider myself a responsible kid in college despite the fact that I've been drinking since 18. The problems associated with alcohol are not a result of it's legality (you can get it easily at almost any age regardless of the law), but rather with the reasons of the person who chooses to drink. Drunkkorexia sounds a bit made up honestly. It sounds like it should be bulimia and alchoholism combined (as the NYT article reports), but instead it's just calorie-conscious women and student binge drinking (as the missouri article reports).
In this case the people who skip a meal (or just shrink several, also called dieting) realize that they will be consuming another 1000-1500 calories later in the night.
This article here mixes something about real eating disorders with the idea of being conscious about your food intake, theres a major logical fallacy in there.
skazakis
7 months ago
How about the fact that most of the students (until junior or senior year) are breaking the law? Wake up young adults - you are ruining your futures! Think for yourselves - do not follow the crowd or the latest trends .Make good choices. Use your God-given brains!!!
A proud Mom wiith a responsible kid in college...
skazakis
7 months ago
How about the fact that most of the students (until junior or senior year) are breaking the law? Wake up young adults - you are ruinung your futures! Think for yourselves - do not follow the crowd or the latest trends .Make good choices. Use your God-given brains!!!
A proud Mom wiith a responsible kid in college...
glebitty
7 months ago
It's true not every body who drinks abuses it. But there are other consequences that come with it from DUI's to getting too tipsy and having irresposible sex, getting an STD or pregnant. Alcohol lowers inhibitions and people do some crazy stuff. If you're in College I can only assume you are aiming for a better life. Well these times are pretty competitive for jobs alone that pay minimum wage. Don't be cocky - be wise!
akatsukineil
7 months ago
I was planning on NOT drinking....helps to reread your comment b4 you post it to avoid sounding like an hypocritical idiot. Sorry guys!!!
akatsukineil
7 months ago
Hmmm.....not in college and I was already planning on drinking, but I'm even more disgusted by alcohol, though it really depends on the person...not everyone who drinks abuses alcohol or rather, themselves.