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Eating Disorders

(PS6-A13) Dieting Behaviors and Supplement Use as Predictors of Drunkorexia

Friday, November 17, 2023
4:00 PM – 5:00 PM PST
Location: Regency Ballroom, Level 7
Drunkorexia is a recently recognized psychological phenomenon that appears to rest at the nexus of substance use and disordered eating. To date, research into drunkorexia has been limited and much remains unknown and undefined about the phenomenon. In contrast, a large body of evidence has demonstrated that dieting behaviors—including following proscribed diets and taking dietary aids and supplements—are a predictor of various eating disorders; however, we know of no study that has examined if such dieting behaviors function as potential risk factors of drunkorexia. As part of a larger study investigating drunkorexia, we examined the predictive relations of self-reported dieting and use of dietary supplements in a sample of Midwestern college students (N = 200; % Women = 63; % White = 73.5%; M age = 20.34). Drunkorexia was captured using the Compensatory Eating and Behaviors in Response to Alcohol Consumption Scale (CEBRACS; Rahal et al., 2012).The CEBRACS comprises four subscales—alcohol effects; bulimia; diet and exercise; restriction—which sum to a global score. We used single-item measures of dieting and supplement use history within the past year. It was predicted that both self-reported dieting and supplement use would show significant zero order associations with global drunkorexia and all four subscales, that these associations would be strongest with the diet and exercise subscale, and each would carry unique predictive power when assessed together. The predictions were only partially supported. Zero order correlations showed that supplement use was significantly correlated with global CEBRACS score (r = .188, p = .008) but dieting was not (r = .047, p = .511). Although, as predicted, supplement use was positively associated with the diet and exercise subscale (r = .237, p = .001) it was not associated with any other subscale; dieting showed no significant scale associations. Finally, step-wise regression analyses indicated supplement use had a significant unique association with global CEBRACS score (B = 6.737, p = .008), after accounting for dieting. Surprisingly, dieting and supplement use were unrelated (r = .054, p = .446). Taken as a whole, these results suggest that, although intuitively related, dieting and supplement use represent distinct phenomena. Additionally, supplement use confers risk of other hazardous behaviors (e.g., drunkorexia) in a way that self-reported dieting does not.