Models' eating habits OK, student finds

from the UW media relations office

A UW student has produced a study that challenges the myth that the risk of developing disordered eating habits is higher among models than non-models. Jennifer McWhirter, a health studies student and a model with a Toronto agency, produced the Model and Undergraduate Self-Esteem study for an honours thesis supervised by professor Kelly Anthony.

While some models might have eating disorders, the MUSE study concludes that they represent a small minority. Most models surveyed reported considerable happiness and satisfaction with themselves, their appearance and the industry.

"Models are often perceived as malnourished and abusive toward their bodies," says McWhirter. "According to my results, however, those in the modelling industry are not any more likely to develop eating disorders than those who are not."

She conducted an online survey that contained questions based on body image, self-esteem, eating habits and exercise behaviours. The 339 participants consisted of female models and non-models in their early to mid-twenties. Models were recruited from Toronto and Montréal agencies, and more than half had international modelling experience. Non-models were made up of a sample of UW undergraduate students.

The deaths of two models in 2006 sparked global controversy and started an ongoing skinny-model debate. Since both died as a result of eating disorders, many people jumped to the conclusion that the pressures of modelling had sparked their behaviour.

Officials in Spain have since issued minimum age and body mass index (BMI, which measures the ratio height-to-weight ratio) requirements to models. Other countries, such as Italy and France, followed suit to varying degrees. Despite constant media coverage and debate regarding the physical appearance of models, however, few people have heard from the models. In fact, no academic research has sought to ask Canadian models how they feel about their bodies.

Low self-esteem is often a key contributor to disordered eating habits but, according to the MUSE study, models have higher self-esteem than non-models. As they are more likely to be satisfied with their appearance, models were significantly more comfortable referring to themselves as beautiful. Furthermore, an overwhelming 93 per cent of models reported that modelling was a positive contributor to their overall lives rather than a stressful factor leading to unhealthy behaviours.

So why are models so thin? Although the BMI of the MUSE study models classified them as underweight, with an average score of 17.4, their eating and exercising habits did not differ from those of the non-models who averaged a normal BMI of 22.7. In fact, more than 80 per cent of both groups scored well within the normal, healthy range for eating behaviours.

With 74 per cent claiming they did not have to lose any weight to begin their career in modelling, McWhirter's results suggest models are thin naturally and likely don't attain their physiques through extreme and unhealthy habits.

"This is an impressive bit of scholarship, well above what's expected from an undergraduate student and much more in-line with what we see at the graduate level," says Anthony, a faculty member in health studies and gerontology. "This is the first significant study done in Canada on this important issue."

The MUSE study findings, that models have higher self-esteem but not higher rates of disordered eating behaviour, suggest that minimum BMI requirement set out by some model bans may not accurately measure a model's health. "Possessing a certain body type cannot and should not be equated with having an eating disorder," says McWhirter.

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New route to staff reclassification

A new paragraph to assist “staff who feel their job descriptions no longer reflect what they do” has been added to a key UW policy, the university secretariat announced this week.

The president of the university approved the change, effective immediately, says a memo from associate university secretary Trenny Canning. It’s an addition to UW Policy 5, titled “Salary Administration, University Support Staff”.

The whole of Policy 5 will be under review by the Staff Relations Committee this fall, “and this addition will be formally incorporated in the Policy at that time,” her memo said. It added that “The proposed addition to the Job Reviews/Reclassifications section was recommended to the Staff Relations Committee by the Provost’s Advisory Committee on Staff Compensation in an effort to address concerns of staff who feel their job descriptions no longer reflect what they do.”

The new paragraph fits into the existing policy’s Section 3E, which deals with job reclassifications (“Human Resources, at the request of managers and supervisors, reviews the appropriateness of the salary grade or classification of existing jobs”).

Here’s the added wording: “Staff may request that Human Resources conduct a review (Human Resources would consult with and work through the manager) if the staff member feels that her/his position has changed significantly, and the manager hasn’t reviewed the position after repeated written requests, and the position has not been reviewed for a period of at least three years. There would still need to be agreement between the manager and the staff member with respect to job duties.”

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Pixels in the big picture

Bovas Abraham (right) retired officially on July 1, ending 30 years as a faculty member in the department of statistics and actuarial science. A graduate of the University of Kerala, India, with a PhD from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, he is a specialist in quality improvement and the management and application of statistical procedures. Abraham has served as director of UW’s Institute for Improvement in Quality and Productivity, and is the president of the International Society for Business and Industrial Statistics and founding president of the Business and Industrial Statistics Section of the Statistical Society of Canada. He’s a Fellow of both the American Statistical Association and the Royal Statistical Society.

The Graduate Student Association has changed the membership rules of the Grad House “to allow graduate students from outside UW to purchase memberships at the same rate as UW graduate students,” the association has announced. “The change was made to ensure fairness for students who, while enrolled at other universities, are engaged in joint programs with UW. All UW graduate students are assessed a refundable $13 fee each term for the right to use the Grad House. Those who are not graduate students and are of the age of majority may purchase a one-term membership for $20. Prior to the policy change, graduate students who were not enrolled at UW paid the $20 membership fee; the effect of the policy change is to reduce this fee to $13 for graduate students from other universities. For ease of implementation, this special rate was made available to all non-UW graduate students, and not just those in joint programs.”

Here’s advance warning that across campus (“all buildings within the ring road, and Village I”) there will be no hot water on August 21 and 22. • The fall career fair is to be held September 26 at RIM Park in Waterloo, and the co-op and career services department is announcing that employer registration is under way. • The alumni affairs office is reporting that “in 2006, 248,808 people visited the alumni web site 383,299 times and looked at 1,905,893 pages.”

A note in the Columbia Lake Village newsletter notes that "with the sweltering heat this summer, the Department of Housing and Residences has revised the air conditioning policy," and "one air conditioner per townhouse" is now permitted, with a fee of $65 a month. • The Graduate House is announcing a "Friday the thirteenth bash" tomorrow night "featuring slightcity/ meanwires and The Sourkeys". • Here's a reminder that a series of panels about the proposed planning and development of the UW north campus continues on display in the Dana Porter Library.

Rev. David Hartry, who was chaplain at Renison College from 1975 to 1992, died Monday at Freeport Health Centre in Kitchener; he was 70. Originally from Nova Scotia, he served as an Anglican priest there and in the Bahamas before coming to Waterloo, where he was an influential figure both at Renison and in university-wide Christian activities. In 1992 he went to a parish at Arva, north of London, subsequently retiring to Kitchener, where he was active in local Anglican churches. UW awarded him the status of Honorary Member of the University in 1998. Visitation will be today from 2:00 to 4:00 and 7:00 to 9:00 at St. George's of Forest Hill Anglican Church on Fischer-Hallman Road, where the funeral service will be held Friday at 11 a.m.

CAR

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