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How the media negatively affects body image
The effects of media on body image and self-esteem
The media's portrayal of body image
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According to Pittman and Cahill (1992,32) ,positive youth development is: " the ongoing process in which all young people are engaged in meeting their physical, personal, and social needs and in building a set of skills and competencies that seem useful in their present lives and in the future". According to the WHO website, adolescence is a stage in life that takes place between the ages of 10-19, in which there are both physical and psychological changes. In my essay I will be discussing some psychological issues that may come up in an adolescents development and how it may or may not affect their psychological health and well-being. The issues that i will be discussing are; Mental Health, Relationships and finally Sexuality.
According to the Psychology Today website, adolescents go through a period of disorientation and discovery. During this time adolescents can be very vulnerable to many different thing and this can lead to some mental health issues. One of these issues is how the adolescent identifies themselves. In the book " Developing Adolescents: a reference for professionals" (2002) it is state that there are two steps to identity. The first step is self concept and this refers to the traits that the adolescent think that they have e.g. height, intelligence, athletic ability. The second step is self-esteem, this is how the adolescent sees themselves. This could also be referred to as the concept of "possible selves" (Markus and Nurius,1986), which is basically how the adolescent sees themselves now and how they hope to see themselves in the future.
In the study " Young People's Views of their Present and Future Selves in two deprived communities" (Kloep, Hendry, Gardener, & Seage, 2010) they looked at the con...
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...n lead to issues such as anorexia, bulimia and depression. Many perfectly shaped teenagers try to lose weight going to the extreme by either throwing up after eating or not eating at all.
Bulimia, involves teens forcing themselves to throw up, is a serious health problem which can result in heart failure. Bulimia also is one of the main mental health problems among teens. Another unhealthy option they resort to in order to lose weight is to become anorexic. Anorexia is an eating disorder in which one chooses to not eat any food at all. This can lead to teens having a lack of energy and serious health problems. Overall, the media leads teens into having self-esteem issues that will end up in a dangerous lifestyle. Overtime, teens will become so into following what the media says that they lose part of who they are in hopes of becoming someone that doesn’t even exist.
In conclusion, society’s influence sparks the initial thought that skinny is pleasurable and desirable. Adolescents will buy into this misconception that they get from the media and society. When this misconception is bought into, it can cause serious consequences as the individual looks for extreme measures of weight control. This weight control can be contained by helping individuals struggling with Anorexia and Bulimia fix their distorted view of themselves, eliminating the negative influence one media source at a time.
“Many kids — particularly adolescents — are concerned about how they look and can feel self-conscious about their bodies.” Eating disorders have the power to affect everyday life. Not only in just teens but all ages. They are able to cause extreme weight changes. As well as, it could affect your health for the rest of your life. (Source 1) By having an eating disorder everything becomes based off of that, if it isn’t helped or stopped it could become serious and damage your health permanently.
According to the DSM-5, anorexia nervosa is characterized by “distorted body image and excessive dieting that leads to severe weight loss with a pathological fear of becoming fat” while bulimia nervosa is characterized by “frequent episodes of binge eating followed by inappropriate behaviors such as self-induced vomiting to avoid weight gain” (DSM-5, American Psychiatric Association, 2013). These two disorders most often affect adolescent girls and young women. There are many factors that can cause body dysmorphia such as behavioral, genetic, and sociocultural. These factors can ultimately onset eating disorders. According to a study by Emily A. Young, James R. Clopton, and M. Kathryn Bleckley at Texas Tech University claim factors associated to these eating disorders include “social pressure from family, peers, and the media and individual variables, such as self-esteem, perfectionism, body dissatisfaction, and depression” (Young, Clopton, Bleckley, 2004).
"Anorexia nervosa... strike(s) a million Americans every year and... one hundred fifty thousand die annually" (Brumberg 20). This outrageous number of deaths has unfortunately been increasing since the 1970's. This deadly disease focuses its attention on young teenage girls. The media gives out messages to promote their products and, knowingly or unknowingly, sends the message to young girls that they should and can look like the models on T.V. Immense pressure put on young girls to look good and to be thin. The unfortunate consequence is that society's pressures to be thin cause girls to become anorexic.
There are two major disorders, anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. The first disorder, anorexia nervosa, happens when someone decides to stop eating. “People with anorexia nervosa often also limit or restrict other parts of their lives besides food, including relationships, social activities” (McConnell). These self-imposed limits lead to anorexia. The second disorder, bulimia nervosa, is another disorder, where someone eats but then gets rid of the food. “People who have bulimia nervosa routinely ‘binge,’ consuming large amounts of food in a very short period of time, and immediately ‘purge,’ ridding their bodies of the just-eaten food by self-inducing vomiting, taking enemas, or abusing laxatives or other medications” (McConnell). These actions can be fatal if they are not treated. “Eating disorders are illnesses, not character flaws or choices. Genetics have a significant contribution and may predispose individuals to eating disorders,” (Why do young). “Your environment can also play a major role in developing an eating disorder. Dieting, body dissatisfaction and wanting to be thin are all factors that increase the risk for an eating disorder,” (Why do young). Whatever the reason for having anorexia or bulimia these disorders can have diffe...
An eating disorder is a way of using food to work out emotional problems. These illnesses develop because of emotional and/or psychological problems. Eating disorders are the way some people deal with stress. In today’s society, teenagers are pressured into thinking that bring thin is the same thing as being happy. Chemical balances in the brain that may also result in depression, obsessive compulsive disorders, and bi-polar disorders may also cause some eating disorders. Other causes may be emotional events, illnesses, marital or family problems, manic depression, or ending a relationship. Over eight million Americans suffer from eating disorders. Over 80% of girls under age thirteen admit to dieting, one of the main factors linked to eating disorders. Although eating disorders are mainly found in middle- to upper class, highly educated, Caucasian, female adolescents, no culture or age group is immune to them (EDA HP, n.p.). The three major eating disorders are anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and compulsive over-eating or binge-eating.
With children as early as age 7 showing dissatisfaction with their body, and as young as 9 starting dieting, eating disorders are a serious issue in our society. Taking a look at perceptions, behaviors, and medical issues associated with the disorders of anorexia and bulimia, scholars have tried to categorize and find answers to the problems which certain adolescents suffer. In this paper I focused on the two major eating disorders of anorexia and bulimia.
Did you know that in 2010/2011 official statistics stated that more than 6,500 children and teenagers were treated in hospitals for eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa? Anorexia is probably the most known and common eating disorders out there, along with bulimia. Anorexia is an eating disorder that makes people lose a lot more weight than is thought to be healthy for their age or height. The people who are diagnosed with it could have a fear of gaining weight and over exercise, diet, skip meals, or simply don’t eat at all in order to lose weight. Bulimia is most of the times together with anorexia because the person with it is also is trying to lose a lot of weight by not only starving but also purging. The person will most of the times over eat because their body is starving and afterwards the person will most likely feel guilty and most of the times that leads to the person throwing ...
We are constantly exposed to that media and it can cause some very negative effects on young people. Adolescents are very vulnerable to the media and are greatly influenced by its messages. Many studies have shown the media’s link to eating disorders. Even though there is no one cause of an eating disorder it seems the media can be somewhat to blame.
Most adolescents believe that they are mature and capable of making serious decisions and feel that they are able to handle their emotions under severe and stressful situations. However, this thinking is a normal part of the adolescent stage. Research provides evidence of major brain development in teenagers and emphasizes the inability of these young adults to understand all of their irrational and emotional actions. The maturing adolescent brain is biologically and therefore psychologically unable to comprehend the long-term consequences of committing serious crimes.
Identity Achievement – the adolescent has developed a well-defined self. Development of their identities can usually be expanded upon and continually defined throughout adulthood. The adolescent is committed to an ideology in addition to having and understanding of their ego
Successful resolution of this psychosocial stage of development is imperative in order to acquire an enduring incorporated sense of self and to progress to the next stage of development. Society and one’s culture also contributes enormously to the commitment or prevention of dealing with the challenges faced during adolescence. Regardless of what challenges are faced during this stage of development, overcoming it is a fundamental necessity in order to progress into a strong-willed and stable individual in
Eating disorders can very well change a person's life and affect people around him or her. People engaged in these eating disorders are mostly referred to as victims, because of horrible and dangerous effects of these diseases. Eating disorders are very serious; sometimes life threatening illnesses can occur. There are three different common eating disorders: bulimia, anorexia nervosa, and binge eating. There are also two that are not as common disorders recognized by most of the people today; they are anorexia, pica, and bulimia in combination. One must first know how to recognize the disorders in order to help one's self or others battle. Eating disorders are very common and people should know what they are, what causes them, how to detect them, and most importantly how to help prevent it or stop it. Anorexia nervosa is one of the types of eating disorders in which a person starves them self in order to gain and maintain their idea of "perfection". This condition happens when a person is constantly dieting to the extreme because of a mental image they have of their body that is incorrect. It usually strikes women around the time when they start going through puberty and has also been known to happen in the late teens and the early twenties. This state of starvation leads to a loss of 150 below normal body weight. Of the 7 million women between the ages 15 to 35 who have anorexia, 65 percent will surely die due to the complications of this disorder (Wellness Web 2).
Today, as many as 10 out of 100 young teens struggle with an eating disorder. Each year, many teens develop eating disorders, or problems related to their weight, body image, and food. Anorexia is a serious eating disorder associated with an intense fear of weight gain and food. People who suffer from anorexia limit the amount of food they eat and have a distorted view of their body size and shape and may become dangerously thin. That is because the disorder affects not only their body but also their mind. Although the cause of anorexia is not fully understood, there is evidence that physical, biological, and social triggers are part of problems in anorexia. All of these causes revolve around the society we are living in today.
The ways that society and social media has instilled into many teenage girls and boys that the ideal body is one that is skinny or muscular, has a flat stomach, thigh gaps, long skinny legs, big butts, and big boobs. People that are built this way are considered beautiful and are looked highly upon while those who are thick, fat, and have chunkier thighs and stomach is looked at by everyone as being a disgusting piece of trash that’s worthless and shouldn’t have a part in everyday life unless they change the way they look. Many young adolescent then proceed to take extreme precautions to try and lose all of the unwanted weight to achieve their ideal body. The steps they take to lose weight quickly leads to the development of eating disorders