A Swedish research study which looked at 13,376 women born between 1952 and 1989 has found that the more educated a girl’s family is, the more likely she is to develop an eating disorder.
The study, reported in the American Journal of Epidemiology’s September 1 issue, tracked hospitalization for eating disorders with the level of education of her forebears, as well as the girl’s own performance at school. Researchers found that girls whose parents attended college were about twice as likely to be treated for an eating disorder. Girls whose maternal grandmothers had a college education were six times as likely. And girls with the highest grades at age 15 had double the risk of developing an eating disorder when compared to the group of girls with the lowest grades.
What does all this mean? Lead researcher Jennie Ahren-Moonga speculates that high-performing families create pressure to succeed and conform; this might play into the obsessiveness that fuels many eating disorders. In addition, girls who grew up in a competitive environment and succeed (as evidenced by higher grades) may themselves have qualities such as drive and perfectionism, that are often twinned with dysfunctional eating.