National Eating Disorder Hotline:
Tel: 800-931-2237
Social
Factors
Social factors and pressures can also play a subordinate role in the development of eating disorders in high school girls. “Culture also plays a role and can help cause eating disorders. Every day, we are besieged with messages about beauty, unrealistic body images and fad diets. Patients with eating disorders are abnormally preoccupied with food, often times labelling certain foods as 'good' or 'bad'" (Eating Recovery Center, 2018). Today's culture uses social media as a platform to emphasize that “being skinny” will make a person beautiful in society's eyes. Society's views on body image can lead females to develop an eating disorder.
The culture and media connect being skinny to popularity, success, beauty, and happiness. This makes the younger generations have a strong desire to be thin. Dieting is often taken too far, which can be a contributing factor to the development of an eating disorder.
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Peer pressure can be another cause of eating disorders. Peer pressure to look like other girls can lead to low self-esteem. Bullying and teasing of another person because of their weight, whether overweight or underweight, can also lead to the development of an eating disorder.
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Another contributing factor is age; eating disorders are extremely more common during the teen years and early 20s due to the cultural and social media presence and pressure" (Shisslak & Crago, 1995). "Over one-half of teenage girls and nearly one-third of teenage boys use unhealthy weight control behaviors (e.g., skipping meals, fasting, smoking cigarettes, purging)" (Neumark-Sztainer, 2005).
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Gender also is a factor in developing eating disorders. Statistically, teenage girls and young women are more likely to develop an eating disorder. "95% of those with eating disorders are between the ages of 12 and 25" (SAMHSA). "40-60% of elementary school girls (ages 6-12) are concerned about their weight or about becoming overweight" (SAMHSA). These concerns about their body can last their whole life and can lead to eating disorders. Among high-school students, "44% of females and 15% of males attempted to lose weight" (Smolak, 2011).
