eating disorders
A recent Girl Scouts of America study found that nine in 10 American teenage girls feel pressured by the fashion and media industries to look like magazine models. The survey of 1,000 13- to 17-year-old girls also found that more than 80% of them would prefer natural photos of models. One in three reported starving themselves to lose weight. More than a third said they know someone who has been diagnosed with an eating disorder. [reuters.com, 2/1/10 stats - Plugged In Online 2/16/10] The Dove Self-Esteem Fund recently commissioned a study titled Real Girls, Real Pressure: A National Report on the State of Self-Esteem. It examined 8- to 17-year-olds' attitudes toward themselves and found that 70% of those surveyed felt that they do not measure up when it comes to looks, scholastic performance and/or relationships. The study also found significant correlations between low self-esteem and a variety of harmful behaviors. Of those who felt badly about themselves, 25% said that they practiced self-injury, such as cutting (compared to just 4% of those who reported high self-esteem). Likewise, 25% of girls with a low estimate of themselves suffered eating disorders such as anorexia, bulimia or binge eating (compared to 7% of those with high self-esteem). Those struggling with their self-image were also more likely to engage in smoking, drinking and bullying. [PRNewswire, 10/7/08 stats - Plugged In Online 10/16/08] QUOTE: "I think [shows featuring super-skinny actresses have] a dangerous effect. In no way am I saying that a TV show causes eating disorders. But if 'bones are in' is the look, then it sends terrible signals to young girls. It beats up their self-esteem if they don't look like that, and then they often do believe that they're supposed to look like that." —Lynn Grefe, CEO for the National Eating Disorders Association, on the proliferation of painfully thin actresses on television [TV Guide, 9/29/08 - Plugged In Online 10/16/08] QUOTE: "Ninety percent of teenage girls think they are overweight today, compared to 24% in 1995, according to a recent ELLEgirl survey. So what gives? Is it our celebrity-obsessed, extreme makeover culture? Is it the newest version of the age-old story of dysfunctional family relationships? Is it peer pressure—mean girls critiquing one another's every lunchtime indiscretion? Is it the $30 billion a year diet industry? It is, in truth, all of the above. But there is also another profoundly important—yet little noticed—dynamic at work in the anxious, achievement-oriented lives of America's perfect girls: They have a sometimes deadly, often destructive, lack of faith. So many perfect girls were raised entirely without organized religion. ... Overlay our dearth of spiritual exploration with our excess of training in ambition ... and you have a generation of godless girls. We were raised largely without a fundamental sense of divinity. In fact our worth in the world has always been tied to our looks, grades and gifts—not the amazing miracle of mere existence." —Courtney E. Martin, author of Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters: The Frightening New Normalcy of Hating Your Body [csmonitor.com, 4/24/07 stats - Plugged In Online 5/08/07] A study of teenagers and adults at the U.S.' oldest clinic for treating eating disorders found that 44% of all patients admitted to intentionally injuring themselves at some point in their lives. The Renfrew Center survey also revealed that among those patients, 9% were involved in self-harming on a daily basis. [Renfrew Center press release, 10/2/06 stats - Plugged In Online 4/26/07]
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