Eating Attitude and Weight Control Strategy in Korean College Men and Women

This study explored the eating attitudes, dieting habits, weight perception and exercise behavior of Korean women. Self-reported questionnaires were administered to 724 Korean college students. Compared to males, female students felt themselves overweight and dissatisfied with their body and desired to lose weight although both groups were within the range of the national standard. Female students dieted more, while males exercised more. Eighteen percent of females showed disturbed eating behavior. The score for disturbed eating behavior was highly related to weight perception in the female students. These results suggest that Korean college women have a high prevalence of eating disturbances without having actual weight problems. A majority of the women desired to lose weight which may be due to the misperception of their body weight and fatness. However, they did not adopt appropriate strategies such as doing regular exercise to reduce their body weight.