The variable “weight loss attempts” was based on the respondents answering “Yes” to at least one of the following questions: “In order to lose weight or prevent weight gain did you ever” “Make yourself vomit?” “Take laxatives?” “Diet strictly?” “Fast – that is, not eat anything at all?” “Exercise vigorously for a long time?” and “Take water pills or diuretics?” We created the variable “Feel fat” based upon respondents answers to the questions “Did you ever feel fat, even though your family or friends were very concerned that you were much too thin?” and “Was there a period of time when people thought you were thin, but you were very dissatisfied with yourself because you thought you were not thin enough?”. Other questions related to disordered eating were designed to assess if respondents had ever eaten a large amount of food in a short period of time (“Binge eating”) and “Past-year binge eating.” Using the variables “Weight loss attempts” and “Binge eating,” we created two variables to reflect those who participated in either of the aforementioned behaviors in their lifetime (“Disordered eating”), or within the past year (“Past-year disordered eating”).
