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Military experience can influence Women's eating habits.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:Disordered eating, ranging from occasional binge eating or restriction to behaviors associated with eating disorder diagnoses, is common among military personnel and veterans. However, there is little information on how military service affects eating habits. OBJECTIVE:To describe possible pathways between military service and disordered eating among women veterans, a high risk group. MATERIALS AND METHODS:Twenty women veterans who reported changing eating habits in response to stress participated in audio-recorded focus groups or dyadic interviews between April 2013 and October 2014. We used thematic analysis of transcripts to identify and understand women's self-reported eating habits before, during, and after military service. RESULTS:Participants reported entering the military with varied eating habits, but little disordered eating. Participants described several ways military environments affected eating habits, for example, by promoting fast, irregular, binge-like eating and disrupting the reward value of food. Participants believed military-related stressors, which were often related to gender, also affected eating habits. Such stressors included military sexual trauma and the need to meet military weight requirements in general and after giving birth. Participants also reported that poor eating habits continued after military service, often because they remained under stress. CONCLUSIONS:For some women, military service can result in socialization to poor eating habits, which when combined with exposure to stressors can lead to disordered eating. Additional research is needed, including work to understand possible benefits associated with providing support in relation to military weight requirements and the transition out of military service. Given the unique experiences of women in the military, future work could also focus on health services surrounding pregnancy-related weight change and the stress associated with being a woman in predominantly male military environments.

SUBMITTER: Breland JY

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6192672 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Military experience can influence Women's eating habits.

Breland Jessica Y JY Donalson Rosemary R Nevedal Andrea A Dinh Julie V JV Maguen Shira S

Appetite 20170809

<h4>Background</h4>Disordered eating, ranging from occasional binge eating or restriction to behaviors associated with eating disorder diagnoses, is common among military personnel and veterans. However, there is little information on how military service affects eating habits.<h4>Objective</h4>To describe possible pathways between military service and disordered eating among women veterans, a high risk group.<h4>Materials and methods</h4>Twenty women veterans who reported changing eating habits ...[more]

PMID: 28802575

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Project description:This paper investigates eating behaviours and motivations of early career military trainees from two pathways (officer cadets and army recruits) to understand whether, and to what extent, healthful eating behaviours were present, and what motivates eating in general and healthful habits specifically. The study also sought to understand whether groups need strategies that are pathway specific or are transferrable across different trainee populations. Participants were recruited via email to complete an online survey and through in-person invitations to ensure a diverse cross section of trainees (n = 195) and recruits (n = 297). Two-step cluster analysis revealed three distinct segments with education, opportunity and motivation being the most important variables within a wider multivariate segment formation and stepwise linear regression was performed to identify the most optimal model with the least number of predictors for each segment. The ideal model for the uninterested segment contained nine predictors, seven predictors for the Breakfast skippers segment and eight predictors for the Weight conscious segment. This study found that there is room for improvement in the eating habits of military trainees across military training pathways. Eating motivations, and their associations with healthful eating habits, indicate a need for strategies that are broader than instilling or reinforcing health motivations. Strategies that can be implemented to support healthful eating for military trainees include provision of food preparation and cooking skills training, coupled with provision of social support and environments that facilitate healthful eating. Furthermore, three distinct segments were discovered within the trainee population, indicating that strategies for positively changing trainees' eating behaviours may not need to be pathway specific, rather it may be possible to introduce the same group of segmented strategies across both pathways. Future research directions and limitations are outlined.

Project description:Background Recent quantitative studies have illuminated dietary- and lifestyle-related changes that students experienced during global coronavirus lockdowns. Limited qualitative research on the US undergraduate student population has been published on this topic. Objective The study aimed to describe eating-related behavior changes reported by US undergraduate students during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a secondary aim, this study described behavior changes among students who were and were not Eating Competent (EC). Study Design, Setting, Participants This was a secondary analysis of data collected from an online survey administered from October through December 2020 to students at a major northwestern public university. The original survey consisted of previously validated and/or published instruments, including the Satter Eating Competence Inventory (ecSI 2.0™). Using a direct content analysis approach, this study coded respondents’ answers to the open-ended question “In what ways have your eating habits changed since the US coronavirus outbreak?” Measurable Outcome/Analysis Codes were written and classified under the four dimensions of Eating Competence: Eating Attitudes, Food Acceptance, Internal Regulation, and Contextual Skills. Other codes were developed to represent responses that did not fit within these dimensions. Respondents were categorized as EC or not EC based on their ecSI 2.0™scores. Results Responses from 1,529 participants were analyzed. Preliminary findings indicate that EC university students more frequently reported behavior changes like eating more fruits and vegetables and more home-cooked meals than non-EC students. Non-EC students more often reported eating more takeout, more processed foods, and more sugar compared to EC students. Mental-health-related changes, eating less regularly, disordered eating, and weight concerns were more commonly reported by non-EC students. Conclusions Compared to non-EC students, EC students reported more health-promoting behavior changes during the pandemic. This study highlights the potential benefit of teaching EC-related strategies to the US undergraduate student population and further elucidates behavior changes among students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Funding None

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Military experience can influence Women's eating habits.

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Military experience can influence Women's eating habits.

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