Female College Students' Experiences with the Freshman 15

Abstract

Discourses surrounding the idea of the Freshman 15 are prevalent within the press and popular media. While college weight gain and eating and exercise practices have been attended to through the collection of survey data, to date no one has linked these trends to wider social and economic processes or contextualized them within the lives of college students. This thesis provides a description of the ways in which 22 college women came to anticipate and experience weight gain during their freshman year of college, as well as the practices they adopted that contributed to weight changes. I analyze this interview data through a discussion of the concept of risk, personal responsibility, and ideas about the female body, while pointing to broader political economic pressures that are changing the ways in which universities provide dining and recreation services to students.