Written by: Heejoo Shin
Edited by: Preeti Shaji
Eating disorders encompass a range of disorders, including binge-eating disorder, anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and more. Eating disorders are characterized by “a persistent disturbance of eating or eating-related behavior that results in the altered consumption or absorption of food and that significantly impairs physical health or psychosocial functioning” (DSM-V). Furthermore, eating disorders incur an estimated 6-10% increase in years lived with disability such as cardiovascular disease, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, and other specific phobias (Dane & Bhatia, 2023). Today, body image plays an important role in how one is perceived due to the exposure of idealizing physically attractive people on TV and social media. At the same time, it allows for adolescents to end up with high body dissatisfaction and increased risk of developing clinical depression, disordered eating, and low self-esteem (Grave, 2023). The rise of social media on body image may create a concerning increase in the prevalence of eating disorders as people are inundated with images of the ideal, “perfect body.” The approximate prevalence rate for anorexia nervosa among girls 15-19 years old is .48% while 1-5% of adolescent girls meet the criteria for bulimia nervosa. Furthermore, for adolescent boys, the prevalence rate for any eating disorder is 12.8% including bulimia nervosa (1.8%), anorexia nervosa (1.2%), and unspecified feeding and eating disorder (1.3%).
Many young people currently grow up in a world that is flooded with mass media and the exposure of media depicts the thin female beauty ideal and the muscular male body image. A research study from Kenyon college created a meta-analysis of 25 studies that involved female subjects, examining the effect of exposure to media images of the slender body ideal. Results have shown that “body image was significantly more negative after viewing thin media images than after viewing images of either average size models, plus size models or inanimate objects” (Morris & Katzman, 2003). Ultimately, such studies continue to illustrate that the vulnerability of unrealistic body images influence young people’s perception of their body shape, size and satisfaction of how it looks. These unhealthy perceptions of one’s self can be predicted for eating disorders as a way to maintain a certain body image. Another study from the University of Wisconsin found the relationship between media and eating disorders among undergraduate college students and have found that media exposure predicted for disordered eating symptomatology, drive for thinness, body dissatisfaction, body dysmorphia (where individuals are overly preoccupied with what are perceived as gross imperfections in their appearance) and endorsement of personal thinness and dieting in men (Morris & Katzman, 2003). Lastly, few studies have explored social media trends regarding “#thinspiration and pro-eating disorder” and how this sort of content can affect eating disorders. One particular cross-sectional study from the Washington University School of Medicine found that “96% of included participants followed the thin-ideal on social media, of whom 86% met the criteria for a clinical/subclinical eating disorder, and 71% and 65% reported symptoms of depression and anxiety, respectively” (Dane & Bhatia, 2023). As the majority of people now have access to media, it has become more difficult to regulate content that may negatively influence young people. As a result, such interventions are needed to combat the issue of exposing bad habits to gain the ideal body image.
Some recommendations for interventions and future research consist of raising awareness of social media and how it can negatively impact body image dissatisfaction. Moreover, by investing in media literacy, it may help young people to appreciate diverse bodies and evaluate advertising content more critically (Dane & Bhatia, 2023). For example, the UK Government Equalities Office approached social media influencers and advertising companies to devise strategies to enhance body diversity online (Dane & Bhatia, 2023). Media education interventions in particular, have helped to decrease the harmful effects of media violence and empower parents to examine media content that is safe to watch. At a more societal level, stricter policies should be made to enhance age verification and minimize the access of pro-eating disorder for young people such as putting on time limits on social media apps as a way to increase the safety and health of media users (Dane & Bhatia, 2023). An ongoing health issue, mass media has convinced people that there is only one “perfect” body—and that their own body always falls short of it.
Reference:
American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.books.978089042559
Dane, A., & Bhatia, K. (2023). The social media diet: A scoping review to investigate the association between social media, body image and eating disorders amongst young people. PLOS Global Public Health, 3(3), e0001091. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal. pgph.0001091
Grave, R. (2023, May 30). Social Media, Body Dissatisfaction, and Disordered Eating. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/eating-disorders-the-facts /202305/social-media-body-dissatisfaction-and-disordered-eating
Morris, A., & Katzman, D. (2003). The Impact of the Media on Eating Disorders in Children and Adolescents. Paediatrics & Child Health, 8(5), 287–289. https://doi.org/10.1093/pch/ 8.5.287
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