The Changing Role of Academic Achievement Before the Onset of Disordered Eating in Academically High-Achieving Females
Abstract
The aim of this qualitative study was to investigate the role of academic achievement in the process of stress and coping of academically high-achieving females before the onset of disordered eating. Fourteen academically high-achieving female adults who had developed disordered eating in high school were interviewed, using a semistructured interview protocol. The results of a timeline analysis revealed three phases in the complex interaction of stress and coping before the onset of eating disorder symptoms. Academic achievement was both a coping strategy and a stressor for all of these high-achieving females, but the role of academic achievement changed over the timeline. The findings of this study are potentially relevant for academically high-achieving females, their teachers, and their counselors.
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Biographies
Jennifer Krafchek, PhD, completed her doctorate at Monash University, Australia. Her research has focused on gifted and high-achieving females. She has worked in schools as a high school teacher of psychology and as a coordinator of middle school gifted programs.
Leonie Kronborg, PhD, is senior lecturer and coordinator of postgraduate and undergraduate studies in gifted education in the Faculty of Education at Monash University, Victoria, Australia. Her research interests have focused on education of gifted students, teacher education, talent development, gender, and twice-exceptionality. She is vice president of the World Council for Gifted and Talented Children.
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Article first published online: March 22, 2019
Issue published: June 2019
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