Food, mood, and attitude: reducing risk for eating disorders in college women.

Food, Mood, and Attitude (FMA) is a CD-ROM prevention program developed to decrease risk for eating disorders in college women. Female 1st-year students (N = 240) were randomly assigned to the intervention (FMA) or control group. Equal numbers of students at risk and of low risk for developing an eating disorder were assigned to each condition. Participants in the FMA condition improved on all measures relative to controls. Significant 3-way interactions (Time x Condition x Risk Status) were found on measures of internalization of sociocultural attitudes about thinness, shape concerns, and weight concerns, indicating that at-risk participants in the intervention group improved to a greater extent than did low-risk participants. At follow-up, significantly fewer women in the FMA group reported overeating and excessive exercise relative to controls.     

DEVELOPMENT OF THE SHORT FORM OF THE FEMINIST PERSPECTIVES SCALE

Development and testing of a 36-item version of the Feminist Perspectives Scale are reported. Study 1 ( N = 209) found high internal consistency for Femscore (α= .85). Alpha was greater than .70 for several subscales, although some showed reliability sufficient only for testing large groups. Test-retest correlations for all but one subscale were between .77 and .87. Validity was demonstrated by correlations between short and long forms (Femscore r = .87), among subscales, and with demographic/attitudinal variables. In Study 2 ( N = 95), relationships to the Attitudes toward Women Scale (AWS) and Bern Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) were examined. The AWS was correlated negatively with the Conservative subscale and positively with the Liberal Feminist and Fembehave subscales. BSRI femininity was also positively correlated with the latter two subscales.