Abstract
Why do Hamilton College students eat the way they do? Based on in-depth, semi-structured, interviews with 12 Hamilton students I searched for the major influences. My results suggest that there are variabilities between people’s habits, but there is a relationship between gendered popular culture and local peer influences that shape each person’s habits. Men and women eat differently, this is not questioned; however, the habits between athletes and Greek members showed variability as well. Athletes mainly eat based on performance, and Greek members typically follow popular cultures’ notion of an ideal body image: women should be thin and men should be muscular. My findings largely support the literature on eating behavior, however, it adds nuance into the culture at a small liberal arts college that previous studies often overlook.
Type of Work
Thesis - Limited Access
Department or Program
Sociology
Institution
Hamilton College
Degree
Bachelor of Arts
Date of Graduation
5-2018
Faculty Advisor
Jaime Kucinskas, Stephen Ellingson
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Citation Information
Revera, Maggie '18, "You Are What You Eat: Uncovering the Influences of College Eating Habits" (2018). Hamilton Digital Commons.
https://digitalcommons.hamilton.edu/soc_theses/12
Notes
Access to this thesis is limited to Hamilton College, Clinton, NY.