Many young people are too concerned with the way they look. What are the implications?

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Recommended: Effects of media on perceptions of body image

Today’s society, young people are very worried about their appearance. The United Nations defines a ‘young person’ as between 15 and 24 years old. This age group has a lot of different influence from many directions that affect the way they feel about how they look, including media, peer pressure, parents and trying to fit in at school or work. Although it is good to take care of yourself and look after your appearance, many young people these days take it too far. This obsession can result in health problems, negative peer pressure and social problems, and bad behavior that brings poor choices. One implication of too much concern for appearance with young people is that there are many health issues that can come from chasing after a certain idea of how a person should look. Every day in the media, young people receive ideas about how they should look from advertisements, television, movies and celebrities. (Skinny celebs a health hazard, 2010). Most people agree that the image shown in these places is actually unrealistic and does not show real people in a natural way. This means that when young people set goals about how they wish to look, they might need to do things that are not good to be able to achieve them. (Brown University, 2014) The most common things are extreme diet and exercise—more and more young people are crash dieting, fad dieting and exercising too much to try and lose weight or get muscles, even those who are already healthy, normal weight. Such behavior can easily turn into an eating disorder such as anorexia nervosa. Some even start smoking or using drugs to control their weight. Because the ideal that they are trying to reach is often hard (Kate Moss) or even impossible for humans (for example a Barbie doll... ... middle of paper ... ...4. Brown University . (2014). Body Image. Available: http://www.brown.edu/Student_Services/Health_Services/Health_Education/nutrition_&_eating_concerns/body_image.php. Last accessed 10th April 2014. McLeod, S. A. (2012). Low Self Esteem. Retrieved from http://www.simplypsychology.org/self-esteem.html Derenne, J. L., Beresin E. V. (2006). "Body image, media, and eating disorders". Academic Psychiatry (30): 257–261. Fisher, N. (2014). Teen Self-Esteem Issues. Available: http://everydaylife.globalpost.com/teen-selfesteem-issues-2080.html. Last accessed 10th April 2014. Harter, S. 1993. Causes and Consequences of Low Self-esteem in Children and Adolescents. In Baumeister, R.F. (Ed.) Self-Esteem: The Puzzle of Low Self-regard (pp. 87-116). Rice University. (2014). What is body image?. Available: http://wellbeing.rice.edu/bodyimage/. Last accessed 10th April 2014.

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