Body image issues affect college experience

In a school with nearly 25,000 undergraduates, some UCLA
students find that the competition existing outside the classroom
can be just as challenging as beating the curve.

With current fashion trends promoting a very slender physique,
some students feel pressured to look a certain way and may develop
body image issues because of their expectations and lifestyles.

“UCLA is known for being one of the schools rated hottest
for student body,” said Willis Chan, a first-year
mathematics, management and accounting student.

“Being at a school like UCLA, (there) is a lot of pressure
because guys coming in have this whole notion that this is where
the beautiful people are, so there is that expectation that …
people will have to work hard to keep up, and guys have to compete
to get the girls,” said Chau Nguyen, a fifth-year sociology
student.

Living in a metropolis like Los Angeles, with a reputation as a
city with beautiful people, can also shape the campus
environment.

“I think the influence of Hollywood is definitely strong
here, but in a lot of ways the environment of UCLA is healthier
than some other campuses because people are physically active and
health-conscious, so it’s both sides of the coin,” said
Jill DeJager, a registered dietician and nutrition education
coordinator at UCLA.

However, being in such a health- and image-conscious environment
also can lead to insecurities.

“You want to look good; you don’t want to be the
ugly duckling, and (people) are self-conscious, especially at
parties,” said Stephanie Rosenbloom, a third-year art student
at UCLA.

And self-conscious feelings associated with body image issues
can affect a student’s experience at UCLA, DeJager said.

“If people feel they look bad, they may isolate
themselves, so the impact could be a self-fulfilling
prophecy,” said Dr. Christina Miller, a clinical psychologist
and associate director at the Center for Women and Men at UCLA.

“They end up not putting themselves where they would meet
people who would be attracted to them if they were there,”
she said.

Though there is a great deal of pressure on people of all age
groups, the pressure can be especially hard on college
students.

“There is an increasing tendency for this generation to
feel that they don’t look good enough and that the standards
are perfection,” Miller said.

“One of the major sources of pressure is the media,
because they are selling more than product; they are selling
lifestyle, and more importantly, cultural norms,” DeJager
said.

But the ideals presented in media have not been static and
recently have changed to an even more unattainable extreme.

“Twenty-five years ago, models (with a comparable height
and frame) weighed 8 percent less than the average American woman.
Currently, the average female model weighs 23 percent below (her)
average weight,” DeJager said.

“The long, lean body type is not even attainable for the
vast majority of women,” she said. “Only about 5
percent of American women have the sort of body type to look like
the people we see in the media.”

Male models have also changed toward a more unrealistic
standard.

Over the past 25 years, the media has been portraying men to be
much more muscular, while having a lower body fat percentage than
what is attainable naturally, DeJager said.

“People can detect confidence, and genuine confidence in
yourself and who you are, not arrogance, is a quality that is
really attractive to potential dating partners,” she
said.

Low confidence and striving for unrealistic standards can lead
to unhealthy choices.

“Even though a lot of people are dieting, many of them
have no need to diet,” Miller said. “They have an
idealized concept of how they should look, as a very skinny
person.”

According to the National Institute of Health, approximately 1
to 4 percent of all young women in the United States will have an
eating disorder of some kind during their lives. Men constitute
approximately 5 to 15 percent of people with anorexia or bulimia,
and an estimated 35 percent of those with binge-eating disorder,
which is a condition in which one eats excessively and
uncontrollably without purging.

“Some studies have shown that as many as 50 to 60 percent
of the college population have disordered eating patterns,”
Miller said.

There is a continuum of issues connected with body image and
eating. On one extreme are full-blown eating disorders, such as
anorexia and bulimia, while healthy eating patterns lie at the
other end, Miller said.

In between lies disordered eating, when one focuses too much on
food and becomes obsessed with it, she said.

“People would go out to eat and get a salad because
they’re worried about gaining weight even though they weigh
normally,” Miller said. “(Disordered eating) takes
time, takes away from having an enjoyable life and can be very
upsetting.”

“From what I’ve experienced, I see girls who watch
their weight but they eat a lot,” said Julie Nguyen, a
first-year physical sciences student. “They talk about going
on diets, but they don’t do it.”

But many of those who obsess about weight find that doing so
does not actually result in weight loss.

“A lot of people start diets and end up gaining more
weight rather than losing it,” Miller said. “They
always think about food, or they end up dieting so much that their
metabolism becomes less effective,” Miller said.

Tina Oakland, director of the UCLA Center for Women & Men,
advocates a more holistic approach to staying healthy and in shape:
changing one’s lifestyle and behavior patterns rather than
focusing on food.

“You wouldn’t expect to run your car on no fuel, or
with substandard fuel, so to do your best at UCLA, you want to be
providing your body with proper fuel,” she said. “Food
is not the enemy; it’s a matter of finding food that
nourishes you best.”

Miller suggests preparing meals that are quick and nutritious
and focusing on exercise instead of unhealthy diets.

Research highly correlates body image with depression,
self-esteem and other psychological issues, DeJager said.

But students do not have to deal with these issues alone.

“UCLA offers many resources, such as counseling or
workshops, that students can seek for help,” Oakland
said.