EquityFeminism » Eating Disorders

Viewing Pictures of Thin Models Improves Self-Image of Young Women

Brian Carnell — Tue, 25 May 2004 05:00:00 +0000

A commonly made claim about the media’s obsession with thin, young women is that such images create a poor self-image in young women who don’t measure up to that ideal. A small minority of them then turn to self-destructive behaviors to try to look like the model on the cover of the magazine, leading to eating disorders and other problems.

A new study conducted at the University of Toronto suggests, however, that the problem is the opposite — viewing pictures of thin young women actually increases young women’s self image. As summarized in a University of Toronto press release on the results,

The study, by lead author Ramona Joshi, a former U of T student supervised by [psychology professor Peter] Herman and psychology professor Janet Polivy, appears in the April International Journal of Eating Disorders. Female university students report on their self-image while viewing different types of images on a computer screen. Their most positive measures of self-image came after viewing photos of thin models taken from popular magazines. This effect was most pronounced in those who wee dieters, although it was also present to a lesser degree in non-dieters. This finding may give clinicians some insight into the motivations of people with eating disorders, suggest Herman.

According to Herman,

The idea that these thing media ideals are inspiring rather than depressing is almost necessary to account for the fact that young women — and just about everybody else — spend[s] a lot of time voluntarily exposing themselves to these images.

. . .

. . . our findings suggest that these images may actually make young women feel good about themselves because they treat that image as a fantasy goal, think, She looks great and I could look like that, too. However, although this fantasy may make them feel good initially, young women who are really super-invested in trying to emulate this image may be the ones who go on to develop a true eating disorder.

Source:

Images of thin models boost dieters’ self-image: Study. Press Release, University of Toronto, April 19, 2004.

Viewing Pictures of Thin Models Improves Self-Image of Young Women is a post from: EquityFeminism

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Mayo Clinic Study: Death Rate Among Anorexia Nervosa Patients Exaggerated

Brian Carnell — Sun, 08 Jun 2003 05:00:00 +0000

A Mayo Clinic study that looked at mortality rates among patients with anorexia nervosa over a period of 60 years concluded that people diagnosed with the disorder die at the same rate as people who do not have the disorder. This contradicts both previous clinical studies as well as many commonly cited claims that the death rate for people with the disorder is extremely high.

The commonly repeated claim is that individuals with anorexia nervosa have a mortality rate that is an astounding 12 times higher than the general population. But, as an epidemiologist with the Mayo Clinic points out, that is because previous studies were generally conducted in hospital settings where individuals with the most advanced cases of the disorder would be overrepresented.

Searching medical records, the Mayo Clinic identified 208 patients who met the criteria for an anorexia nervosa diagnosis between 1935 and 1989. The researchers found that those patients had the same death rate as the general population.

Mayo Clinic epidemiologist Joseph Melton said that,

Although our data suggest that overall mortality is not increased among community patients with anorexia nervosa in general, these findings should not lead to complacency in clinical practice because deaths do occur.

Patrick Sullivan, a professor of psychiatry and genetics at the University of Carolina at Chapel Hill, wrote in an editorial accompanying the study that what it showed was that anorexia nervosa symptoms occurred along a spectrum. Those with the most severe cases — such as those requiring hospitalization — may indeed have a higher mortality rate, but it is important to make distinctions between the degree of severity of the disease rather than lumping all cases in with the most severe and claiming that anyone with the disorder has a 12 times higher mortality rate.

Source:

Death rate for eating disorder not unusual. Brad Evenson, National Post (Canada), March 12, 2003.

Mayo Clinic Study: Death Rate Among Anorexia Nervosa Patients Exaggerated is a post from: EquityFeminism

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Does a Genetic Disorder Cause Some Anorexia Cases?

Brian Carnell — Tue, 09 Oct 2001 05:00:00 +0000

A claim popularized by feminists is that anorexia (and other eating disorders) are caused by unhealthy media images of thin women. In the past decade this claim has been undermined by cross-cultural studies of societies with very different ideal female body images, but a recent Dutch survey is the first to provide any evidence that anorexia may have a genetic as well as psychological component.

American researchers began by studying mice who experience an eating disorder similar to anorexia. Research determined that the mice were deficient in a protein called agouti, which was involved in the formation of skin pigment. The substance had a second use, however — its presence in the brain was necessary to stimulate the mice to eat. Those mice who produced too little of this protein suffered from an anorexia-like eating disorder.

Dutch researchers then turned to human beings. Taking blood samples from 145 patients diagnosed with anorexia, the researchers found that 16 of the patients had genetic mutations of the gene that produces the agouti protein in human beings.

This follows up on earlier research that found high risks of anorexia in people whose relatives also suffered from the disorder. According to the BBC, studies of twins have shown that when one twin suffers from anorexia, the other twin has an extremely high 50 percent risk of suffering from anorexia as well. Having a family member who suffers from anorexia increases the risks of suffering from the disorder from 1 in 200 to 1 in 30.

Rather than being simplistically caused by images of thin females in the media, anorexia is turning out to be a very complex disorder with a number of likely factors contributing to its development.

Source:

Anorexia ‘has genetic basis’. Marlene Smits, The BBC, October 7, 2001.

Does a Genetic Disorder Cause Some Anorexia Cases? is a post from: EquityFeminism

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.