Eating Disorders Research Paper

The Prevalence of Eating Disorders among Young Girls in Today’s Society. Due to the prevalence of mass-media advertising in the United States, eating disorders among young girls are more pervasive in the U.S. than other well-developed countries. According to the estimates of The National Institute of Mental Health in the US, “between 5 – 10% (i.e. 5-10 million people) of girls and women suffer from eating disorders (Hastings et. al., 2002).” Eating disorders, specifically binge eating disorder, is also becoming a serious problem in the United Kingdom. A survey conducted in 2001 found that 8.5 % obesity levels are found in children ages 6 years old and 15% among children aged 15 years old. Moreover, 165,000 people, in which 90% are women,
According to British Medical Journal, one of the reasons why the cases of eating disorders are increasing in Asia is because of the ultra-thin model image shown in television advertisements by Western media (Edell, 2000). Eating disorders have been found mostly in high-income and well-developed East Asian countries such as Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and South Korea. Despite the fact that young Asian females are already “slim by western standards”, it is the ‘thin-is-beautiful’ ideal that came form the West that is one of the major reasons why cases of ED in Asia is increasing (Lee, 1998). Problematic eating behaviors towards fear of fatness have also been found in the urban areas of low-income countries such as China, India, Indonesia, and the Philippines (Lee,
It is possible that the three kinds of eating disorders mentioned earlier may spring from advertising. It only depends on the kind of advertising a person is exposed to. Selective representation of the female body in advertising may cause anorexia and bulimia nervosa among young girls. On the other hand, food advertisements, specifically junk food advertisements, may cause binge eating disorder. Selective representation of the female body in advertising may be rooted from the fact that advertisers are trying to sell a product and they have to attract consumers and rise above the clutter when they do so that they will be noticed. Hence, advertisers select body images of females that they think will be able to attract consumers when they see the advertising materials. The most widely represented body image of females in advertising is the image of ultra-thin sized models. This tells us that “there is a widespread belief among advertisers that ‘thinness sells’” (Clay et. al.,