The Media?s Influence on Eating Disorders Essay -- Anorexia Bulimia Ne

The Media's Influence on Eating Disorders Eating disorders are mental illnesses that affect more than 7 million American women and usually develop in girls ages 12-25. The most common age for a girl to begin having an eating disorder is 17 years old (Discovery Health?). The National Eating Disorders Association states that eating disorders are conditions that arise from factors including physical, psychological, interpersonal, and social issues. Media images help define cultural definitions of beauty and attractiveness and are often acknowledged as one of the factors that contribute to the rise of eating disorders (NEDA). It is evident that the media influences teenage girls to develop eating disorders based on these reasons: the media promotes a thin and unrealistic body image, the media helps define cultural standards of attractiveness, and being exposed to these images can cause one to develop body dissatisfaction. General risk factors for the development of an eating disorder are being a female living in a western society during adolescence or early adulthood. Some characteristics of people who develop eating disorders are low self-esteem, perfectionism, obesity, anxiety and anxiety disorders. Development of eating disorders can arise from a variety of issues besides the media including: biological, psychological or social factors, family issues, and cultural pressures. Eating disorders and certain associated traits can run in the family. Obsessive-compulsive and sensitive-avoidant personality types are more vulnerable to eating disorders. People with a mother or sister with anorexia nervosa are twelve times more likely to develop the disease. If there is family history of any type of eating disorder, ... ..._England_paper.pdf.> National Eating Disorders Association. 2002. 5 Apr. 2005 . National Women?s Health Resource Center. Discovery Health. 2005. 24 Apr. 2005 . Thompson, Kevin J., and Leslie J. Heinberg. ?The Media?s Influence on Body Image Disturbance and Eating Disorders: We?ve Reviled Them, Now Can We Rehabilitate Them Journal of Social Issues 55.2 (1999): 339-353. Valois, Robert F., Keith J. Zullig, E. Scott Huebner, and J. Wanzer Drane. ?Dieting Behaviors, Weight Perceptions, and Life Satisfaction Among Public High School Adolescents.? Eating Disorders 11.4 (2003): 271-288. Women?s Fashion. 17 Apr. 2005 .