Discuss two or more psychological explanations of one eating disorder.

The first 200 words of this essay...

Discuss two or more psychological explanations of one eating disorder

Socio-cultural explanations

Media influence

- Images of the idealized women have become taller and slimmer over the last 50 years.

- Several reasons suggest the media is an important factor in the development of eating disorders

- Girls internalize what is seen in their culture as beautiful

- This can create tension between the real self and the ideal self

- This leads to dissatisfaction with body shape and weight, dieting and an obsession with food

- In some vulnerable girls, this can develop into an eating disorder

- This process may be helped by imitation and direct reinforcement through family praise for losing weight.

-Groesz, Levne and Murnen found that dissatisfaction significantly increased after exposure to thin women.

Ethnicity influences

-Grabe and Hyde found significantly less body dissatisfaction in African-Americans than White females.

-In the Caribbean, there are more positive attitudes towards large body sizes - attractiveness and fertility.

Peer influences

-Peer acceptance is important during adolescence, as it is a time of uncertainty.

-Jones and Crawford found