Houston Daily

A new study from the University of Houston reports that both positive and negative childhood experiences play a role in shaping college students’ eating behaviors. The research, published in Adversity and Resilience Science, finds that positive childhood experiences can protect against disordered eating among young adults.

The study’s lead researcher, Craig A. Johnston, associate professor and chair of the Department of Health and Human Performance at the University of Houston, said previous studies have examined how adverse and positive childhood experiences relate to disordered eating but few have looked at how these factors interact. "Previous studies have examined how adverse and positive childhood experiences are related to disordered eating among college students, but very few have explored how these experiences interact and may synergistically affect disordered eating," Johnston said.

Johnston’s research team surveyed 1,634 University of Houston students. They found that nearly 80% of college students reported engaging in some form of disordered eating—a rate much higher than other age groups. Disordered eating includes behaviors such as overeating, binge eating, or unhealthy weight control.

The study defined positive childhood experiences as having supportive relationships, regular household routines, comforting beliefs, and strong community connections. Negative experiences included abuse, neglect, illness, or divorce.

"We found that positive, or benevolent childhood experiences, had a protective effect against disordered eating. Even in the instance where students had a high amount of adverse childhood experiences, positive childhood experiences mitigated their impact in regard to unhealthy eating behaviors," Johnston said. "The most dramatic protective effect was observed when individuals had both low adverse childhood experiences and high positive childhood experiences, reducing disordered eating by 20% to 41%."

Among those with reported adverse childhood experiences and low positive ones, the highest predicted probability for excessive concerns about weight and shape was 63%.

Johnston suggested that schools and community-based programs should teach healthy coping strategies and resilience-building techniques: "For clinicians, the findings of this study imply that schools and community-based educational programs should incorporate lessons on healthy coping strategies and resilience-building techniques."

Cynthia Yoon from Pusan National University in South Korea was the paper’s first author. She added: "Given that childhood experiences, both good and bad, have a strong and lasting impact in eating behaviors, it is important to support families, caregivers, neighbors and teachers in creating a warm, caring and non-hostile environment. This, in turn, may help reduce the chances of students developing disordered eating behaviors during college."

Johnston also recommended screening college students who show signs of disordered eating for their past childhood experiences: "Additionally, college students who exhibit disordered eating behaviors should be screened for childhood experiences as part of the assessment to determine whether food and eating are used as coping mechanisms or to fulfill unmet childhood emotional needs. Those who screen positive may help clinicians tailor treatment plans to address underlying trauma or lack of warmth, and promote developing resilience, potentially preventing the use of disordered eating behaviors as a coping mechanism."