Reading 'Fifty Shades of Grey' Linked to Unhealthy Behaviors in Young Women

Reading "Fifty Shades of Grey" may not be good for your health. Researchers have found that young adult women who read the book are more likely than nonreaders to exhibit signs of eating disorders and have a verbally abusive partner.

The researchers wanted to investigate whether there was a relationship between health risks and reading popular fiction depicting violence against women. In "Fifty Shades," the lead character, Anastasia, is in an abusive relationship, which made it a good candidate to use for the study.

The researchers studied more than 650 women between the ages of 18 to 24. They found that compared to participants who didn't read the book, those who did were 25 percent more likely to have a partner who yelled or swore at them. In addition, they were 34 percent more likely to have a partner who demonstrated stalking tendencies and more than 75 percent more likely to have used diet aids or fasted for more than 24 hours.

"If women experienced adverse health behaviors such as disordered eating first, reading 'Fifty Shades' might reaffirm those experiences and potentially aggravate related trauma," said Amy Bonomi, one of the researchers, in a news release. "Likewise, if they read 'Fifty Shades' before experiencing the health behaviors seen in our study, it's possible the books influenced the onset of these behaviors."

That's not all that the researchers found, either. Those who read all three books in the series were 65 percent more likely than nonreaders to binge drink and 63 percent more likely to have five or more intercourse partners during their lifetime.

"We recognize that the depiction of violence against women in and of itself is not problematic, especially if the depiction attempts to shed serious light on the problem," said Bonomi. "The problem comes when the depiction reinforces the acceptance of the status quo, rather than challenging it."

The findings are published in the Journal of Women's Health.