What are the short term effects of body image issues with health and development?

The short term effects are:

• Dramatic weight loss – Rapid, drastic weight loss with no medical cause.

• Feeling fat, despite being underweight – May complain about being overweight in general or just “too fat” in certain places such as the stomach, hips, or thighs.

• Fixation on body image – Obsessed with weight, body shape, or clothing size. Frequent weigh-ins and concern over tiny fluctuations in weight.

• Harshly critical of appearance – Spends a lot of time in front of the mirror checking for flaws. There’s always something to criticize. They’re never thin enough.

Denies being too thin – Refuses to believe that his or her low body weight is a problem, but may try to conceal it (drinking a lot of water before being weighed, wearing baggy or oversized clothes).

What are the trends of body image issues and Anorexia?

• Findings from a Victorian Adolescent study revealed 8.8% of female adolescents had an eating disorder. Close to 50% of those had high levels of depression and anxiety, especially those with bulimia.

• Eating disorders occur in both males and females before puberty, with the ratio of males to females approximately 1:10 during adolescence and increasing to 1:20 during young adulthood.

• The incidence of eating disorders in the athletic population, including ballet, is 20% or greater than in the average population.

• Research suggests that males are becoming increasingly concerned about the size, shape and overall appearance of their bodies. One in three young males want their body to be heavier and one in three want their body to be lighter. 26-30% of boys want to be thinner. However prevailing cultural values encourage many boys to desire increased size and muscle mass.

• 42% of young women from different cultural backgrounds (European and Asian), who are already underweight, want to weigh even less.

• 50% of primary school children wanted to weigh less according to a survey of pre-adolescent Sydney children. 25% of seven to ten year olds have dieted to lose weight.

What happens if you have an unhealthy body image?

An unhealthy body image can lead to the serious illness, Anorexia Nervosa.

A one-in-five mortality rate shows that people who are preoccupied with their weight and body image develop serious physical conditions.

The estimated mortality rate is 12 times the rate of similar aged people in the community and double that of those suffering other psychiatric disorders. The risk of suicide is high, being 1.5 times higher than for people with major depression.

Morbidity of body image problems includes osteoporosis, anovulation, dysthymia, obsessive compulsive disorder, and social isolation.

Celebrities that have anorexia

"Uruguayan model Luisel Ramos, 22, died of heart failure in August of the same year, reportedly after weeks of consuming nothing but lettuce and diet drinks."

Mary-Kate Olsen

Nicole Richie

Victoria Beckham

Body Image Pressure on Young People

All too often, society associates being "thin", with "hard-working, beautiful, strong and self-disciplined." On the other hand, being "fat" is associated with being "lazy, ugly, weak and lacking will-power." Because of these harsh critics, rarely are teenagers completely satisfied with their image. As a result, they often feel great anxiety and pressure to achieve and/or maintain an imaginary appearance.

The Australian Longitudinal Study of Girl’s Health, which included 14,686 young women aged 18-23 years, revealed 66.5% had a BMI within a healthy weight range, however only 21.6% of these young women were happy with their weight. The pressures on young people to look good

• Low self esteem increases the chance of developing disordered eating.
• A recent survey of 600 Australian children found that increasingly, children are disturbed by the relentless pressure of marketing aimed at them. A large majority (88%) believed that companies tried to sell them things that they do not really need.
• A large number (41%) of children are specifically worried about the way they look with 35% concerned about being overweight (44% of girls and 27% of boys) and 16% being too skinny.
• A 2007 Sydney University study of nearly 9,000 adolescents showed one in five teenage girls starved themselves or vomit up their food to control their weight. Eight per cent of girls used smoking for weight control.
• A recent survey of 29,000 young Australians found Body Image was the most concerning issue for young people (32.3%)
• The average child in the UK, US and Australia sees between 20,000 and 40,000 television advertisements per year. They are bombarded with images about how they should look and what they should own. Children struggle to keep up, suffering from anxiety, stress and lower satisfaction in themselves.

Sources:

http://www.eatingdisorders.org.au/media/key-statistics.html

http://www.womenshealth.gov/bodyimage/eatingdisorders/

What is Body Image?

Body image is the attitude towards your body, how you see your self, how you think and feel about the way you look and how others see you. Your body image can be influenced by your own beliefs and attitude.

• An unhealthy body image is thinking your body is bigger or smaller then what it is in reality.
• A healthy body image is being comfortable in your own skin, being happy with the way you look, and feeling good within yourself.

Source: http://au.reachout.com/find/articles/body-image-how-to-love-the-skin-youre-in