title: College students' perceptions of individuals with anorexia and bulimia nervosa.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Eating disorders (EDs) are highly stigmatized conditions. This study explored factors hypothesized to influence this stigmatization including ethnicity, gender, ED subtype, and proposed etiology.
  
  
  METHODS
  Undergraduates (N = 235) read scenarios depicting fictional characters varying on ethnicity, gender ED subtype, and etiology. Participants reported perceptions of each character, and completed the EAT-26 and the Level-of-Contact scale.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Characters with BN were viewed as more responsible for their ED and more self-destructive than those with AN, who were viewed as more self-controlled. Characters with a sociocultural etiology were rated as most likely to recover. Characters with a biological etiology were viewed as more likeable than characters with an ambiguous etiology. Characters in the ambiguous group were viewed as more self-destructive, more responsible for their ED, and less self-controlled. Differences in participants' perceptions of the characters also emerged when examining ethnicity and gender. Finally, participants' own ED symptoms and their level of contact with EDs were associated with viewing characters as more similar and self-controlled.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Findings highlight the need for increased education about ED etiology and course.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia 23284-2018, USA.
authors.forename: Natalie
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Wingfield
authors.forename: Nichole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kelly
authors.forename: Kasey
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Serdar
authors.forename: Victoria A
authors.initials: VA
authors.lastname: Shivy
authors.forename: Suzanne E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Mazzeo
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000856:Anorexia Nervosa / Q000523:psychology*; D052018:Bulimia Nervosa / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D010465:Perception; D013240:Stereotyping; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014495:Universities; D055815:Young Adult