Anorexia Nervosa Research Paper

One aspect of puberty is that it does not occur at the same time for everyone. One adolescent can mature earlier, while another can mature later than average. For boys, early-maturing boys had more positive images of them and developed more successful friendships than did their late-maturing counterparts. On the other hand, when late-maturing boys were in there thirties, they developed a stronger sense of identity. A possible explanation for this may be that early-maturing boys were too engrossed in their favorable physical status over the late-maturing boys which prevented them from developing their careers or succeeding in school. Meanwhile, late-maturing boys had more time to explore life and what it had to offer. Research claims that it

more advantageous to be an early-maturing boy. However, for girls, this is not the case. Early-maturing girls are more susceptible to smoking, drinking, depression, eating disorders, and conflicts with parents over earlier independence, friendships with older people, and earlier dating and sexual experiences due to their matured bodies. Early-maturing girls are more likely to engage in sexual intercourse earlier than late-maturing girls and invest their time in more troubling relationships. In addition, due to earlier sexual intercourse, early-maturing girls are less likely to graduate from high school, and they tend to marry at a younger age.

Anorexia nervosa and Bulimia nervosa are two distinct disorders that are common in adolescent girls.

Anorexia nervosa is a possible life-threatening eating disorder in which the people starve themselves through restriction of food in order to be thin. Symptoms of people suffering from anorexia nervosa are having a weight that is less than eighty-five percent of what is considered normal for their age and weight, an illogical fear of gaining weight, a distorted perception of self-image and body, and a lack of menstruation. Additionally, women who suffer from anorexia nervosa are obsessed with their body weight, weighing themselves, looking at themselves in the mirror, and exercising. Individuals with anorexia nervosa have a distorted perception of their body because even when they are thin they view themselves as too fat. They never think they are thin enough. Anorexia nervosa usually begins in the early to middle adolescent years to predominantly non-Latina White females. On the other hand, Bulimia nervosa is an eating disorder in which the person goes on an eating binge and then purges. While people with anorexia essentially hate food, people with bulimia are preoccupied with it. Moreover, while anorexics appear to be unhealthy, bulimia is usually difficult to detect in individuals because they typically fall within normal weight range. Similar to anorexics, bulimics have a strong fear of becoming overweight, feel depressed or anxious, and have a distorted body

image.

Adolescent egocentrism is the heightened self-consciousness of adolescents.

Adolescent egocentrism has two components: the imaginary audience and personal fable. Imaginary audience is an adolescents belief that others are as interested in them as they themselves are. Adolescents are eager to be noticed, visible, and the center of attention among their peers. For example, when I was twelve years old I was obsessed with going to school dressed with the latest fashion in order to impress my peers. I would think that everyone would notice and talk about me if I was not dress nice. Another example is that at age eleven I accidentally slipped on wet grass during a fire drill at school and was embarrassed at my temporary incident. I was upset because I felt that everyone noticed and will begin to gossip because I did not maintain my appearance of being perfect. On the other hand, personal fable involves an adolescent’s sense of uniqueness and invincibility. Since adolescents begin to believe they are so unique, they often feel that parents and adults do not understand them. For example, an adolescent may not tell his or her parents that they are experiencing bullying because they believe the parents do not understand them. Another example may be an adolescent who skips school continuously believes the administration or his parents will never catch him. Essentially, the adolescent believes he is invincible to

dangers.