Trying too hard: a correlate of eating related difficulties.

Effort expended dieting and effort expended maintaining existing body weight were compared to three types of eating related difficulties (binge eating, general symptoms of anorexia nervosa, and more specific obsessions about food and weight). Significant correlations occurred between all measures of effort and all three measures of eating related difficulties in this sample of college students. Significant correlations also occurred between being female and scoring higher on these measures of eating related difficulties. When the two most consistent correlates, of eating related difficulties, past effort dieting and current effort maintaining existing body weight, were controlled, significant sex differences in such difficulties were eliminated.