Levels of cigarette and alcohol use related to eating-disorder attitudes.
OBJECTIVE
To examine levels of cigarette and alcohol use relative to body dissatisfaction and drive for thinness in 206 black and white college women.


METHODS
Anonymous, paper-and-pencil, self-report questionnaires were administered.


RESULTS
Frequency of both cigarette and alcohol use were significantly and linearly related to body dissatisfaction and drive for thinness. Regression analyses indicated that negative-affect reduction motivations for use of these substances were more strongly related to eating-disorder attitudes than were levels of use.


CONCLUSIONS
Cigarette and alcohol use, independent of race and other demographic variables, increased along a continuum with eating-disorder attitudes.
Granner
Michelle L
ML
Department of Health Promotion and Education, University of South Carolina, Norman J. Arnold School of Public Health, Columbia 29208, USA. mgran1072@aol.com
Black
David R
DR
Abood
Doris A
DA
D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D001828:Body Image; D001835:Body Weight / Q000208:ethnology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D015144:Southeastern United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology