Body Image And Social Pressure Research Paper

624 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Peer pressure amongst teens

Body Image and Social Pressure In not only America, but western society as a whole, eating disorders have been on the rise. A fact which is especially true in teenagers. Many attribute this to the rising social pressures teens face everyday. These pressures put an emphasis on being attractive, and during the present being attractive is becoming more and more synonymous to being thin. These pressures society compels upon teens also have negative effects on the self esteem of teens. While these issues are not exclusively limited to teens, teens are still the most affected. Both teenage girls and boys judge themselves and others based on society’s standards for beauty (most often in the case of females) and manliness or toughness (most often in the case of males). When a teen does not fit into the normal standards that society sets, they may view themselves or others negatively, which often can lead into low self-esteem which has its own negative consequences. …show more content…

Those two believed they should exercise more to improve it. Three out of five said that they felt pressured to meet a certain expectation of beauty or “manliness.” None of the females questioned said that they dieted frequently, and none of the males said that they would consider taking supplements to build muscle. None of the students questioned said that they would have work done from a plastic surgeon done, even if it was for free. While the group of students questioned are not a very good representation of our society’s teens as a whole, this does show that many people do feel that they are expected to look a certain way, or weigh a certain weight. Even if some people who feel pressured by society do not wish to go to extremes in order to fit a certain body type, there are many others who would go as far as to starve themselves in order to try and meet society’s

Show More
Related

  • The Troubled Life of Boys; The Bully in the Mirror

    611 Words  | 2 Pages

    When you look in the mirror you see your imperfections. You see your perceived flaws; things that nobody else recognizes about you and you think that there has to be some way to change it. In today’s world, society places impossible standards on the way you’re supposed to look and recently young American males in their teen age years have become increasingly self-conscious about their physical appearance. In the article “The Troubled Life of Boys; The Bully in the Mirror” author Stephen Hall investigates the changes and causes of the increase in males becoming concerned with wanting to be more muscular.

    Read More

  • Muscle Dysmorphia

    1178 Words  | 3 Pages

    The article "Body Image in Boys: A Review of the Literature" by Geoffrey H. Cohane and Harrison G. Pope is an important starting piece to the problem of muscle dysmorphia. Cohane goes through a survey and questionnaire study of boys under the age of 18 and tests them to see the king of attitude and choice they will have toward body images. These results were compared to different boy groups as well as to the girl groups that were asked about body image. Different kinds of assessments were done, including body dissatisfaction scale, imagery and questionnaires evaluating attitudes toward body types. In most studies girls were always dissatisfied with their body weight wanting to be thinner, but according to Pope's reports on fourth grade boys "45% of the boys wanted to change their weight"(p.2). Coupled with other st...

    Read More

  • Eating Disorders and The Media

    1688 Words  | 4 Pages

    Our society today is heavily influenced by the media and the imagery it shows. Though it may be indirect, the media provides unhealthy messages about ideal body sizes, gender attractiveness, and weight control that make women view themselves in a negative way. Magazines, television, and movies influence teenage girls on what they believe their body image should be. The images they show set the standard of what is considered physically attractive in our society. With the use of photoshop, media depicts falsified images of models and actresses to create a perfected look that is unattainable by the average woman. This creates a desire among teenage girls to look like these stars that are often shown. When teenage girls look at these images, they compare themselves to those images, and then judge themselves based on these comparisons. These judgements can potentially lead to eating disorders. In order to prevent the risk of eating disorders among teenage girls, the media should depict a typical image of people, rather than idolizing a specific standard of beauty.

    Read More

  • Unrealistic Body Standards Essay

    769 Words  | 2 Pages

    Many teens today are faced with unrealistic body standards. Social media has an huge influence on how teens see their body. They may see a model or their favorite celebrity and ask themselves why don't they look like that, or how can they look like that. These body standards can cause some to body shame others. As social media continues to deem what is attractive and what is not, the number of women dissatisfied with their body will increase.

    Read More

  • Anorexia And Bulimia Essay

    918 Words  | 2 Pages

    Over the years the rise in body image dissatisfaction has grown as both male and female progress to adulthood. This factor can be contributed to societal standards that the media presents to the public daily. These standards continue to rise making the body image more difficult to attain. With these standards comes the push to seek the “perfect body”. This myth of true beauty commonly found in today’s society, is the price that adolescents buy into often sacrificing their health. The perfect body can often present a distorted view of one-self leading to unhealthy methods of weight reduction. The most common methods for weight reduction are the diseases Anorexia and Bulimia. The similarities and differences between Anorexia and Bulimia will be used to prove that the society’s pressure to fit a certain mold contribute to the onset of the disease.

    Read More

  • Eating Disorders during Adolescence

    1894 Words  | 4 Pages

    The stage of adolescence contains major changes which can bring stress, confusion, and anxiety. Feelings of self-consciousness, low self esteem and comparison with peers start occurring during this time. Along with the physical changes there is also hormonal and brain changes that affect the adolescent physically, mentally, emotionally, and psychologically. During this time a person can feel tremendous pressure to find their place in the world among a great deal of confusion (“Eating Disorders and Adolescence,” 2013). Body image concerns and peer pressure are heightened during the period of adolescence, and are potential risk factors in the development of an eating disorder. While eating disorders can affects males and females of all ages, the average age of onset for Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, and disordered eating takes place during adolescence. These disorders are often a coping mechanism for people to attempt to gain control of their situation when they feel helpless among other aspects of life (“Eating Disorders and Adolescence,” 2013). Eating disorders in children and teens can lead to a number of serious physical problems and even death (Kam, n.d.).

    Read More

  • Eating Disorders

    994 Words  | 2 Pages

    Eating Disorder obviously seems to be important issues amongst adolescences. Many teenagers died, some survived, and some don't know they are engaged in an eating disorder. It seems that the only way we can avoid adolescences going through this is by having a cultural and family de-emphasis on physical appearance that may eventually reduce the incidence this disorder.

    Read More

  • Media is Pushing Young Girls to Grow Up Too Fast

    559 Words  | 2 Pages

    By allowing younger girls and teens to be portrayed as grown woman in advertisements, our teens are losing their young innocence. With society’s increasing tolerance, this epidemic will continue to exploit our young daughters, sisters and friends. Young teens feel an enormous amount of pressure to obtain the ‘ideal’ perfect body. Trying to emulate the advertisements seen in the media and magazines. As a result, more girls and woman are developing eating disorders.

    Read More

  • Effects of Media on Women’s Body Image

    689 Words  | 2 Pages

    The overwhelming idea of thinness is probably the most predominant and pressuring standard. Tiggeman, Marika writes, “This is not surprising when current societal standards for beauty inordinately emphasize the desirability of thinness, an ideal accepted by most women but impossible for many to achieve.” (1) In another study it is noted that unhealthy attitudes are the norm in term of female body image, “Widespread body dissatisfaction among women and girls, particularly with body shape and weight has been well documented in many studies, so much so that weight has been aptly described as ‘a normative discontent’”. (79) Particularly in adolescent and prepubescent girls are the effects of poor self-image jarring, as the increased level of dis...

    Read More

  • Body Image Persuasive Speech

    562 Words  | 2 Pages

    Now I’m going to give those teens a way to ignore what others think and think about themselves in the most important years of their lives. Body image has become more important that education and it needs to stop. I am going to point this article more towards teenage girls. Although I know guys are self conscious about themselves too I cannot relate to that. Girls when you look in the mirror do you see what you want to see?

    Read More

  • Helga Dittmar Article Summary

    1067 Words  | 3 Pages

    She writes and researchers about body image and eating disorders in adolescents. Susan Paxton’s qualification consists of an B.A. Honors, MPsych and PhD. She is currently a professor at La Trobe University. Her research is concentrated on understanding risk factors for the development of body image and eating disorders and prevention and treatments for the problems. Siân McLean, who also earned her B.A. and PhD, is a professor in Psychology at La Trobe University. All of the mentioned authors have invested a considerable amount of time into researching towards this specific topic. This article targets researchers wanting to know more about the risk factors that influence adolescent eating disorders and body image concerns. The author’s writing is clear, straightforward and provides a lot of information that pertains to my topic. This specific article, is more informational because it provided useful statistics on risk factors that lead to eating disorders. It can be compared to Salafia and Lemer’s article because both have to deal with stress as a significant issue. This specific article stood out the most in my research because it provided well written and studied information and also served as another supporting article for this specific

    Read More

  • The Influence of Self-Assessed Body Image on Confidence and Self-Esteem

    2460 Words  | 5 Pages

    Research in psychology today seems to be drawn towards particular fields of interest especially when it comes to understanding human behavior. One of the most common research topics for social psychology is body image and the perceptions that are related to age groups, genders, and ethnicities. Young people today are pressured by society to make physical appearance a dominant factor in their everyday lives, and the pressure is found not only through media influence but friends and family as well (Pavica, 2010). These pressures can affect many different aspects of a person’s life and significantly influence their actions. The aspects affected by body image can include popularity among peers, social comfort, and the attitudes an individual comes to commit to behavior (Lewis & Rosenblum, 1999).

    Read More

  • The Influcen of the Fashion Industry on Teenagers' Standard of Beauty

    406 Words  | 1 Pages

    Clearly, there is a necessity to curtail the cases of teenagers suffering from body image pressures immediately (Kennedy, 2010). If there are no pressures, there will be surely no obsession with their appearance and there will be certainly no more risks of young women’s health and rise in serious eating disorders.

    Read More

  • What Is Beauty?

    756 Words  | 2 Pages

    In addition to planting false hopes in the minds of easily persuaded young girls, this appalling view of “beauty” now booming in western cultures is shockingly leading to high rates of low self-esteem and eating disorders. In a National Report on the State of Self-Esteem issued by the Dove Self-Esteem Fund (June 2008), it was reported that a self-esteem crisis is prevalent in the Uni...

    Read More

  • The Pressures of Teenage Life

    889 Words  | 2 Pages

    Teenagers constantly worry about their body image. Magazines, newspapers, and television don’t exactly help to boost their confidence. The portrayal of stick thin woman and body building men forces teens to believe they need to achieve that “perfect” body and look. The biggest issue of these images being broadcasted to teens is the effects that the images have on them. Teenagers who obsess over their body image can experience stress due to trying to impress others, develop an eating disorder, and neglect, and even jeopardize, important aspects of their lives when they focus too much on their body image.

    Read More

More about Body Image And Social Pressure Research Paper

Open Document