Date of Conferral

2019

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Psychology

Advisor

Charles Diebold

Abstract

Binge eating and drinking have been studied with respect to stress, anxiety, and depression, but little is known about the emerging phenomenon of binge watching television programming. Guided by escape theory and the uses and gratification theory, this cross-sectional, correlational study addressed multivariate relations of binge drinking, binge eating, and binge watching with depression, anxiety, and stress among 102 college students ages 18 to 24. Multivariate canonical correlation results revealed that participants with low anxiety scores tended to have low scores on binge eating and drinking but high scores on binge watching. Participants with low stress scores and high anxiety scores tended to have low scores on binge watching and eating. In a regression model, anxiety, stress, and gender were important predictors of binge eating. Binge drinking was influenced by where a student lived, fraternity/sorority status, athletic participation, depression, and stress. Binge watching was best predicted by a model including stress, anxiety, athletic participation, and whether binge episodes were planned or unplanned. More binge watching occurred among participants not involved in athletics to pass time but not for information. Results may provide college mental health student services centers with empirical data to create programs to identify maladaptive binge behaviors among students and help them more effectively cope with stress, anxiety, and depression.

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