Young People's Concern on Looks and Its Implications

Young People’s Concern on Looks and Its Implications.

Many people are very concerned on what they look like or what other people think about them. Young people worry themselves to death about how the look. Some think they are too fat, too thin, too short or too tall and would prefer if they looked like someone else. This phenomenon is widespread among teenagers and adolescents since this is the stage where rapid changes occur both on the physical and emotional makeup of youths. Most youths fall victims to self-esteem issues, which to them is an adequate reason to focus on how they look. Poor body image and low self-esteem are risk factors for the development of weight loss strategies and mental health disorders such as depression and eating disorders (Ahluwalia, 2008).

The Royal Children’s hospital (2011) postulates that the implications of over concern on one’s appearance include:

• Concentrating on losing weight, or worrying about specific parts of their body,

• Persistently comparing one’s body with others

• Associating food with feelings of guilt or shame

• Wanting to stay indoors because of the way one looks

• Not doing activities because of the way one feels about her body

• Feeling inadequate about or critiquing one’s body

Body image is what one thinks, sees and feels pertaining to their entire body. In most cases, this may have nothing to do with the way you actually look. Friends, peer magazines and television programs are among the various factors that constitute a person’s of the body image (Ahluwalia, 2008).

The most affected gender is the females. They worry a lot about gaining weight and some of them always complain of being fat thus they are ever on a diet. This has always been a stereotype associat...

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...bruary 21, 2014, from http://ezinearticles.com/?Worried-About-How-You-Look-Or-Your-Body-Image?&id=1324879

Attewill, F. (2012). Girls as young as five ‘worry about their weight and looks. Retrieved February 23, 2014, from http://metro.co.uk/2012/05/29/girls-as-young-as-five-worry-about-their-weight-and-looks-449439/

Furlong, A. C. (2006). Young people and socal change. McGraw-Hill International.

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The Royal Children’s Hospital. (2011, march 10). raising children network. Retrieved March 15, 2014, from http://raisingchildren.net.au/articles/body_image.html

Whitehead, R., & Harrison, M. (2012, March 2). Perception about body Image. Retrieved March 21, 2014, from http://www.bestieltsonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/model-answer-2.pdf