Eating Disorders and the Impact of the Media and Teasing by Adolescents

According to a new study recently released in the June 2008 issue of Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, there are more than 10 percent of adolescent girls and 3 percent of adolescent boys who are binge eating or purging at least once a week. The age groups that were used in this study ranged from 9 to 15. As this seems to be a new trend one has to wonder how much of this has to do with the media, parents or influences from friends.

Based on results from this study it was deemed that a major factor to this trend was due to teasing about weight along with trying to attain certain images portrayed from the media. As I may find this to have some truth it must also be known that this study was conducted based on these teens filling out questionnaires themselves. So I do have to say that I am a little hesitant to believe that these results that were obtained are all factual.

As a health care provider I remember several years ago while working in a family practice setting I treated several adolescents mostly girls slightly older than in this study for eating disorders. At the time I recall purging to be more common than binge eating. And as I remember it many of these young women were about 16 years of age and they all had a very similar trait. They all wanted to be accepted by their friends more so than what the media portrayed.

The only reason that they were at a health care facility was because their parents found out about their disorder through a sibling or a close friend. I found it very frustrating to try and talk to these girls at that time because they did not seem to care about the health risks or the implications that these actions of binging or purging would cause. It should also be noted that initially they would deny the claims that were being made, but after confidentiality was assured to them along with my only being there to help them then they would come forward with the truth.

And in learning the truth behind these behaviors I discovered that many were influenced by their own peers and not so much in the form of teasing but as in a "matter of fact" way. Such as in statements that were made as to how one or the other lost a certain amount weight prior to a particular function by purging. This in turn would escalate to a continuous pattern especially as they attended more functions and as they also became more social.

I also learned while speaking to them that they were not so much a "victim to teasing" or to "blaming the media" for their eating disorders. They actually stated that their parents never even really discussed weight with them in a teasing or negative way. They admitted that they were told about certain health benefits from their diets by their parents but that they did not really care about that and this had nothing to do with their current eating disorder. I did believe to some extent that they may have been a victim to some degree of teasing but they were too naïve to label that as a reason or to even know that at the time.

Just as with drugs and alcohol these young adolescents had formed their own groups of friends that were involved in activities that they were only privileged to by association. So they learned a behavior to cover up their actions just in case they were caught. They stated that they would say exactly the same thing and they all learned that if they all used the same excuses that it would be more acceptable by their parents or care givers. These would include making the accusation of being teased or to blame their parents or the media. It was a way of getting out of taking some of the responsibility themselves.

This is a true psychological disorder. And it is something that really needs thorough investigation and if the adolescents of today are so easily influenced by peer pressure to develop eating disorders then one must wonder what other addictions or behavior challenges will be faced in the future. At the same time it just shows how our children have become manipulative at such a young age and how they can really try and turn things around to take away the accountability of behavior changes from themselves.

Adolescents today are relying on the public to give them their excuses on how and why they conduct themselves in a certain fashion. Being influenced by these so called friends has always been there, however today it has become so much easier to blame and to change the focus on everyone else as to not ever be held accountable for their own actions.

This is no way is an excuse to purging or binging but I think to easily blame the media and teasing is only a way out for these teenagers from being responsible for their own actions. Intervention is number one here and the earlier that something is detected then help should be seek out just as with any other addiction like drugs and alcohol. These children need constant supervision of whom they are seeking friendships with and to build a great support system in teaching what is right from wrong. But the media and teasing will always be there and at an early age they have to be taught how to incorporate this into their lives and to be stronger and more self confident in the choices that need to be made.

In conclusion, as parents, care takers and health care providers to adolescents it is essential to listen carefully and to provide our future generation with options on how to express themselves in healthy ways. Listening is key and I know that if I did not take the words from the teenagers seriously that I treated in the past for eating disorders the consequences would have been much more severe. It was important to gain their trust and to really find out the underlying cause and I did keep in touch with some of these families and have heard only success stories and how now they can look back and see that most of their influences actually came from what they had thought at the time were friends. And not the so called media and teasing as suggested by this study.

Resources:
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/575738