The Prevalence Of Body Dissatisfaction And Eating Disordered Behavior Essay

Body dissatisfaction and unhealthy behaviors among children and teens appear to be on the rise in the U.S., while appearance ideals have become increasingly unrealistic

The theory of weight management explores the statistics behind obesity in various cultures and environments within the United States (Pickett, Peters, & Jarosz, 2014). This theory, derived from the theory of self-care, can be classified as descriptive due to the theory’s observational and informative nature. In the theory of weight management, the researchers discuss their findings; individuals need motivational input for weight loss, personal perspectives regarding obesity play a large role in weight control, and factors such as nutrition and exercise are largely influenced by one’s family and society. The authors conclude that the largest percentage of obese individuals living in the United States can be located within the African American female population. The hope for the

Teenagers at risk for eating disorders more than double to 29 percent. The number of high school girls

Bryn1, 2, bryn.austin@childrens.harvard.edu, et al. "Eating Disorder Symptoms And Obesity At The Intersections Of Gender, Ethnicity, And Sexual Orientation In US High School Students." American Journal Of Public Health 103.2 (2013): e16-e22. General Science Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 29 Feb. 2016.

Bingeing. Purging. Calorie counting. Excessive exercising. These are actions that are most commonly associated with eating disorders, which are psychological conditions affecting an individual’s eating habits. Though these conditions can appear in any age or gender group, they tend to be most prevalent in adolescent women. A large population of these young women happen to be college students dealing with problems such as body image issues, food insecurity, and other mental health disorders. Unfortunately, the number of college students with eating disorders is steadily rising in the United States, which is why it is important for colleges and universities to find solutions for it.

The authors use an adaptation of Stice’s (1994) socio-cultural model of disordered eating that includes social comparisons, self-reports of body mass index and perceived weight status and examine how these components affect this model. Data obtained from a sample of 250 girls and 275 boys, ages between 11-16, revealed that pressure to loose weight is linked to eating behavior, social comparison, internalization and body dissatisfaction. Social comparisons were strongly connected to body dissatisfaction for adolescents who considered themselves to be overweight. There were considerable gender discrepancies, with girls being more affected by body dissatisfaction and

“Body image begins to form in grade school because that’s when children/people start comparing themselves to others,” said Dr. Gene Beresin, a child and adult psychiatrist and associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical. Body image is how a person perceives themselves, including their imagination, emotional, and physical sensations (The Media and Body Image, 1). Teens that suffer from negative body image let the bad thoughts shatter their self-esteem, the sense of how valuable they are as people (Maynard, 1). The lowered self-esteem may lead to depression, eating disorders, or mental disorders. Bryan Karazsia, the associate professor of psychology at the College of Wooster, said, “Body dissatisfaction is not linked with health. It’s linked with a lot of negative things like eating disorders, unhealthy exercise habits, low self-esteem, and depression.”

Although a great deal of early research on body image and eating disorders focused on upper/middle class Caucasians living in America or under the influence of Western ideals, many researchers are realizing that eating disorders are not isolated to this particular group. They are also realizing the differences in body image between occur in different races and genders (Pate, Pumariega, Hester 1992). Recently, several studies have shown that eating disorders transcend these specific guidelines, and increasingly, researchers are looking at male/female differences, cross-cultural variation and variation within cultures as well. It is impossible to broach the concept of body image without

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2016). Youth risk behavior surveillance system (YRBSS). Retrieved from: https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/data/yrbs/index.htm

According to the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA), as many as 60 percent of children between ages 6 and 12 worry about weight gain, and half American teens think they’re overweight. (Turner, 2014) Girls want to lose huge amounts of weight because they think they will feel prettier when all there doing is damaging the inside of their body. Among adolescent girls, 1% to 3% have bulimia and 1% have anorexia. Only 5% to 15% of all people with anorexia or bulimia are male. (Harris, 2004) Most young females and males go through some type of eating disorder. A study in the Archives of General Psychiatry found that more than half a million teens have an eating disorder. (Turner, 2014)

“ Over fifty percent of 9 and 10 year-old girls feel better about themselves if they are on a diet(3), even though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that only 18 percent of adolescents are really overweight. About 80 percent of girls in this age group say that they have dieted in an attempt to lose weight.”--Mirror Mirror Eating Disorder Help. Unrealistic body images on social media can lead to eating disorders, low self-esteem, and depression in adolescents.

The aim of this literature review is to describe the main causes of eating disorders among teenagers aged 12 to 18 years old in high schools globally, and to also explain to what extend do some of these causes influence eating disoders. Recent studies have indicated a major increase in the eating disorder habits and body dissatisfaction in adolescence over the past few decades. This crisis seems most prevalent in females`` than males with 20 percent high school females exhibiting poor eating habits and about 60 percent undergone weight loss attempt (Pritchard and Wilson, 2005). Most affected youngsters endeavor various solutions to cope with this dilemma and in most cases, drug and alcohol abuse and suicide are the worst

Schwarz, C., Gairrett, L., Aruguete, S., and Gold, S. (2005) found 103 female participants that were undergraduate students from a community college and a private women’s college in Missouri, each person ranged from 18-22 years old. “Participants completed a survey that was administered to groups of students during classes and sports practices.” (Schwarz, C., Gairrett, L., Aruguete, S., and Gold, S., 2005, 347) Each survey contained a questionnaire that had four components. Schwarz, C., Gairrett, L., Aruguete, S., and Gold, S. (2005) used the Eating Attitudes test to measure the participants pathological eating habits. Each participant was put into a category of Dieting, Bulimia, and Oral control following the questions they had to answer. The second part of the questionnaire was body dissatisfaction. Schwarz, C., Gairrett, L., Aruguete, S., and

The amount of males that are unsatisfied with their bodies has tripled in the last twenty-five years. According to Helen Fawkner, doctor of philosophy, it has increased from fifteen percent of the male population to forty-five percent. It is an extremely severe problem that most people are not aware of. It can lead to suicidal thoughts, self-harm, and eating disorders, but the majority of people think that males do not have to worry about it as much as females. However, they have the same amount of pressure to have the perfect figure as females, it is just not delineated. Body image and eating disorders are not just female problems, men go through the same issues.

It does not come as a surprise that women, in large, are dissatisfied with their bodies. This widespread body dissatisfaction amongst women was coined “normative discontent” (Rodin, Silberstein, & Streigel-Moore, 1984). Although body dissatisfaction seemingly plagues women as a whole, there are several factors that can either serve as a protective factor or a risk factor for the development of body dissatisfaction. Much of the research regarding this normative discontent excludes culturally relevant factors for African American (Black) women. Looking specifically at African American women, the factors that affect body image and body dissatisfaction greatly differ from those that affect non-minority White women. Skin tone or complexion,