Bulimia vs bulimic behaviors on a college campus.

A self-report survey of bulimic behaviors was conducted with 1965 students who were selected to provide a cross section of a large, eastern university. Follow-up interviews of a subsample of respondents were conducted to validate the survey. After correcting for false-positive responses, only 1.3% of the female and 0.1% of the male respondents met diagnostic criteria for bulimia according to either the third edition or the proposed revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. In addition, an inflection point was found in the rates of binge eating, self-induced vomiting, and their combination at a frequency of about twice per month.