The article “The risk of eating disorders in adolescence and its associated with the impact of the socio-cultural attitudes towards appearance” as written by Mustata Andreea-Elena best describes the association of eating disorders to social pressures. From the article, it can be understood how adolescents have a higher risk of developing eating disorders as they interact with the society that they live in. In a nutshell, the article gives an analysis of circumstances based on how the society has the power to shape individual behavior into wanting to achieve perfection.
The main objective of the paper is to establish whether there exists a link between increased risk of developing an eating disorder for adolescents and the existing social attitudes on appearance more so what is displayed by the media. When we discuss eating disorders, they are often classified amongst psychological disorders due to the underlying factors that contribute towards them. Adolescents are at a critical stage of their lives as they are learning to discover who they are while conforming to social beliefs and attitudes towards specific aspects of life.
Body appearance is one such issue that the society can overemphasize on and that is why Elena is of the opinion that it has a strong associated with behaviors that can lead to abnormal eating habits amongst teenagers. Of particular interest is how the author further adds the element of media into the entire equation. Today’s teenagers are well conversant with the media and tend to engage with it as often as they possibly can. As one of the key ways through which the society can impact its attitude on people, the media can be termed responsible for helping to define a specific boy image that girls and boys have to have.
The article articulates the role of the media in encouraging social attitudes towards appearance to the point it is somehow encouraging the use of diets, extreme plastic surgeries, and excessive exercising. All this aims at pushing for a specific appearance that can be difficult to achieve. With different body types and perspectives, the article carries out a study to investigate the existence of the correlation as mentioned above. With 119 adolescent participants, 32 being boys and 87 being girls aged between 15-19 years, it was the finding of the study that the relationship does exist.
As such, there is evidence to show that eating disorders among adolescents’ correlate with social attitudes on how both sexes ought to look like. As explained, this is based on how society can help shape individual’s attitudes and behaviors by emphasizing specific importance and pressures. As such, the article describes how individual teenagers, especially with respect to gender are prone to adopting societal beliefs which in the long run will influence their behavior and choices. With eating disorders, the society helps to shape attitudes towards food types as well as encourage abnormal eating habits just so as to advance the notion of the perfect body image. This is particularly true for adolescents who feel the pressure and importance of being accepted based on their appearance. Therefore, the information from the article helps to explain the possible correlation between eating disorders in adolescents and sociocultural attitudes towards appearance.
Opinion and Experience on eating disorders and socio-cultural attitudes towards appearance
From a personal perspective, it is my understanding that we all want to have the ideal body but what we all fail to ask ourselves is who comes up with what is to be considered the ideal appearance. Eating disorders are psychological problems based on body image and self-esteem due to constant comparison to what others or the society expects an individual to look like. The pressure is always there to have a lean body accompanied by the perfect skin and hair when this is far from the reality. What most of us do not understand is that our bodies are not only defined by genetics but we cannot all have a specific look that is possibly unachievable.
The role socio-cultural beliefs play towards appearance is to establish what would be considered the perfect body and then give it a priority without realizing there are other body types. The media further plays this role by choosing to over market on particular appearances while body shaming others. As explained by Elena, the correlation between the two variables may exist because of programs and magazines that only choose to excessively promote the image of thin people. For this reason, teenagers easily accept this as what they need their bodies to appear as thus the increased risk of developing eating disorders. It is like a psychological framework that triggers abnormal behavior in an individual as the constant comparison further makes proper eating habits a far stretched reality for most adolescents who want the perfect appearance. In conclusion, it can be said that the risk of developing an eating disorder is subject to several factors but of importance is to understand the correlation this has with the society and media.
Work Cited
Elena, Mustata Andreea. “The risk of eating disorders in adolescence and it’s associated with the impact of the socio-cultural attitudes towards appearance.” Procedia: Social and Behavioural Sciences, 187 (2015). https://www.researchgate.net/publication/277947157_The_Risk_of_Eating_Disorders_in_Adolescence_and_its_Association_with_the_Impact_of_the_Sociocultural_Attitudes_Towards_Appearance
