Examining the Causes of Eating Disorders By definition, disordered eating is an irregular eating pattern that cannot be classified based on other eating disorders (e.g. anorexia, bulimia, binge eating ) (Leon, Fulkerson, Perry, Early-Zald, 1995). The most common types of eating disorders are bulimia, anorexia, and binge eating (Grossbard, Atkins, Geisner, & Larimer, 2013). Disordered eating is more prevalent in universities. Research has concluded that in the college-age female population, the number of people suffering from eating disorders ranges from 34% to 67% (Corning, Krumm, & Smitham, 2006). It has also been found that men account for approximately 33% of eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia (Griffiths, Murray, & Touyz, 2014). Eating disorders are not limited to one population or group of people. Anyone can develop an eating disorder. There are numerous potential reasons why a person may develop an eating disorder. In our research we examine the different possibilities regarding the causes of an eating disorder and how it varies by gender. Causes of Disordered Eating Stress Stress is pressure or tension resulting from an external situation. Stress can affect a person's life from eating habits to sleep patterns (e.g. eating disorders, irregular sleep patterns) (Myers et al., 2012). Approximately 83% of adults believe that stress contributes to health-related problems (e.g., heart disease, depression) (The Impact of Stress). The research conducted by Myers et al. reported that 70% of students were affected by one or more stressors (e.g., financial, academic, health, relationship). Females reported being more stressed than males (Lin, Spector, & Shi, 2008; Myers et al.). Most of the women in this study reported that their greatest difficulty…half of the paper…limitation was the questionnaire. Demographics, stress and general health were addressed in the study, however, due to other factors, self-esteem, depression and weight could also have been accessed. Future research should focus on creating a measure that can access other factors such as depression and self-esteem that will help researchers better understand factors that may influence eating disorders. Furthermore, focusing on a more equal and larger population will be useful for obtaining better quality results. Conclusion The purpose of this study was to determine how stress influences disordered eating by gender. From the results we concluded that there was no significance between males and females and how much food they consumed when stressed. Rather, it was concluded that our population was engaging in healthy coping methods.