Comparison of Avoidance Coping Strategies Among Female College Students with Binge Eating and Healthy Controls

Background: Binge eating is the consumption of a large amount of food, with the feeling of loss of control. Unhealthy eating behaviors, especially binge eating disorder, may be a form of coping strategies to control the negative and unpleasant feelings. Objectives: The present study was conducted to investigate the differences in avoidance coping strategies among female college students with binge eating disorder and healthy controls. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 200 female students who entered Shiraz University of Medical Sciences in 2011. Data were obtained via the Binge Eating scale (BES) and Lazarus’ ways of the coping questionnaire. We collected the demographic characteristics of the students, such as age, year of the entrance, living place, and mean score of the last semester from the checklist. We used descriptive statistics and independent t-test to evaluate the overeating and normal groups of collegian students. Results: The mean age of the participants was 22.94 ± 1.94 years. In this study, 75% of the individuals were normal, and the remainder was in the overeating group. Based on Lazarus’ ways of the coping questionnaire, confronting coping (P < 0.02) and escape-avoidance (P < 0.01), subscales showed a significant difference between the overeating and normal groups. In both subscales, the overeating group had lower scores. In the end, the mean scores of the overeating and normal groups were significantly different (P < 0.001). Conclusions: The use of inefficient coping strategies increased the negative outcomes such as binge eating disorder in students. Avoidance coping strategy can be an essential mechanism used to reduce the pressures in stressful situations.