Verified Document

Eating Disorders And Body Image Essay

Health and healthy living require a balance of many ideas and behaviors, that need to be taken into consideration in order to realize the totality of the situation. One of the more pressing issues in today's world deals with the ability of the younger generations to practice good and healthy eating habits. While this may appear easy at first glance, the many circumstances that may contribute to such a problem can create a situation where more research is required. The use of diet aids within college populations is a serious issue within the health care arena. The purpose of this essay is to explore the many intricate details that correlate with the use of diet aids amongst college students and how this practice may become harmful and provide unintended circumstances. This essay will first define key terms and gather the necessary literature to help guide the discussion. Next, this essay will illuminate how education about this topic is eventually the best approach to combating the many facets of this argument.

Background Information

The stresses that accompany the everyday college student are wide and varying. This includes physical, mental and emotional stressors that play a role in the collective health of that student. Eating disorders become a way to cope with this stress many times and the use of diet aids and diet pills often go hand in hand with such disorder. here are many misconceptions about eating disorders. Eating disorders may develop as a way to gain control over and cope with emotional problems, stress, self-hate, shame and/or trauma. For some young adults the stress of heading off to college and adapting to a new and competitive environment can lead to an eating disorder - if left untreated, can lead to complex medical and psychiatric symptoms.

Contributing Factors

The social pressures that are present in college aid people are very hard to resist. Students, trying to adjust to a new and powerful social situation are often left...

The peer pressure to look thin and healthy, especially on a college campus should not be underestimated as a driving force behind this behavior.
The media uses the accepted cultural values of thinness and fitness for monetary gain. Americans spend billions of dollars trying to achieve an unrealistic ideal. Societal and cultural norms and mass media marketing impact our concepts of what beauty looks like. These external influences are so widely accepted that most of us never stop to challenge them or ask how they came to be.

Warning Signs

It is important for people to be aware of the warning signs that may accompany such abuse. These may include: Frequent changes in weight or severe weight loss, wears baggy, loose fitting clothes, makes many trips to the bathroom, skips meals and isolates oneself. While these signs to don't always point to this problem, there are indeed good indicators of warning signs that there may be a problem.

Strengths and Weaknesses of the Draft

The essay written above is a work in progress with strengths and weaknesses. The topic I have chosen is a strength of this essay as it is a very applicable problems that needs more understanding from students and others alike. The essay is written with emotion and purpose and incorporates many different angles of the issue at hand. Another strength of this essay is that it is written with a strong attitude that demands the reader's attention.

Since this is only a rough draft there are problems with this essay that need to be addressed. There are some ideas that need to be more fully developed to help create a better context for the argument. The essay is written in a tone that needs to be altered as well to help present a more professional essay that can be targeted to a more educated audience.

Part 2: Unit 9 Assignment

Celio's (2006)…

Sources used in this document:
References

Agliata, D., & Tantleff-Dunn, S. (2004). The impact of media exposure on males' body image. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 23(1), 7-22.

Groesz, L.M., Levine, M.P., & Murnen, S.K. (2002). The effect of experimental presentation of thin media images on body satisfaction: A meta-analytic review. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 31(1), 1-16.

Thompson, J.K., & Stice, E. (2001). Thin-ideal internalization: Mounting evidence for a new risk factor for body-image disturbance and eating pathology. Current directions in psychological science, 10(5), 181-183.
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Eating Disorders Among Asian-Americans the
Words: 2848 Length: 10 Document Type: Term Paper

(Hall, C.C. 1995). This fact is proven by studies of Asian women outside the United States. For instance, studies in Korea and China point out that a high rate of eating disorder cases are being recorded in these countries as a direct result of economic change and the influence of Western culture. (Park, E. 2000) in Japan as many as 1 in 500 women have shown signs of an eating

Eating Disorders in the Gay Community
Words: 3046 Length: 9 Document Type: Term Paper

eating disorders in the male homosexual community. Eating disorders of all kinds are prevalent in the homosexual male community for a variety of reasons. Eating disorders are common in young people concerned with their appearances, but they usually occur in young females. Gay men are often extremely concerned with their appearances, as well, which is one reason they are more susceptible to these disorders. A large number of gay men

Body Image and Body Positivity on TikTok
Words: 2820 Length: 9 Document Type: Research Paper

Body Positivity and Social Media Body Positivity and Social MediaAbstractThis research paper proposal explores the impact of body positivity content on individuals' body image. Applying a mixed methodology approach, the study aims to assess whether exposure to body positivity videos through TikTok and Instagram leads to improvements in body image perception. A pre-experiment survey will assess participants' initial feelings about their body image, including comfort, happiness, satisfaction, tendency to compare,

Eating Disorder Patterns Between Ballet
Words: 2293 Length: 6 Document Type: Term Paper

The desire to possess a perfect body causes the loss of control on eating habits and the development of a preoccupation with appearances is the result. "Once youngsters become aware of how they look it can become quite a consuming interest." (Anorexia linked to child dancers) The study to establish any connection between childhood dancing and adult eating habits was conducted on five hundred and forty six women in the

Eating Disorders: Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, Binge-Eating
Words: 2411 Length: 8 Document Type: Essay

Eating Disorders: Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, Binge-Eating Disorder, Night Eating Syndrome and Eating Disorders Not Otherwise Specified Eating disorders are psychological illnesses associated with a host of adverse medical conditions, negative psychological affects, and substantial reductions in quality of life. This paper will explore some of the causes research has attributed to this behavior. According to Leslie Sim, et al. (2010) the main eating disorders are anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge-eating

Eating Disorder and Gender
Words: 5075 Length: 15 Document Type: Research Paper

Eating Disorders and Gender There are medical conditions which more commonly occur in one gender over another. These conditions can be either mental or physical. Very often, they are both mental and physical conditions. Certain medical situations are extremely severe and can potentially result in serious harm to the body or perhaps even death. There are certain conditions which being with a mental impression, a false belief that has been ingrained

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now