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Essay on Is the "Skinny Look" Worth It?
The prevalence of anorexia nervosa is approximately 0.5% and of bulimia nervosa approximately 2% among female adolescents and young women in Western countries. (1) These prevalences and the incidence of eating disorders (EDs) are high among girls and young women compared with other chronic diseases that affect women of these ages. An appropriate knowledge of the main modifiable determinants of ED is needed to develop effective preventive interventions. The available information about the determinants of eating disorders is mainly based on case-control (2-4) or cross-sectional studies. In these designs, there is a possibility that some of the identified risk factors may be attributable to differential recall of past events or to reverse causality (ie, early consequences mistakenly identified as supposed exposures) cannot be ruled out. As randomized trials would not be feasible or ethical for these diseases, the most reliable information should come from prospective cohort studies.
A previous prospective study that included 1947 adolescents of both genders identified that dieting and psychiatric morbidity were strongly associated with the onset of EDs. (5) Among these factors, some characteristics related to the influences of mass media have been more extensively studied with results (Borzekowski, 2000, Robinson & Killen; Cusumano & Thompson, 2001) and evidence. A previous prospective study has assessed the association between media exposure and the development of abnormal eating behaviors among adolescent girls.
However, only the self-reported use of laxatives or vomiting to control weight was used as the outcome in that study. Moreover, the case definitions in most of the previous studies addressing other risk factors for EDs were not based on clinically accepted diagnostic criteria but rather on responses to different versions of the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT). Studies that assessed clinically diagnosed cases of ED included a series of cases in a clinical setting but usually did not use population screening to ascertain additional cases.......
