Eating Disorders

WHAT CAUSES DISSATISFACTION?

When a person has negative thoughts and feelings about his or her own body, body dissatisfaction can develop. Body dissatisfaction is an internal process but can be influenced by several external factors. For example, family, friends, acquaintances, teachers and the media all have an impact on how a person sees and feels about themselves and their appearance. Individuals in appearance oriented environments or those who receive negative feedback about their appearance are at an increased risk of body dissatisfaction.

One of the most common external contributors to body dissatisfaction is the media. People of all ages are bombarded with images through TV, magazines, internet and advertising. These images often promote unrealistic, unobtainable and highly stylised appearance ideals which have been fabricated by stylists, art teams and digital manipulation and cannot be achieved in real life. Those who feel they don't measure up in comparison to these images, can experience intense body dissatisfaction which is damaging to their psychological and physical wellbeing.

The following factors make some people more likely to develop a negative body image than others:

Age — body image is frequently shaped during late childhood and adolescence but body dissatisfaction can affect people of all ages and is as prevalent in midlife as young adulthood in womenGender - adolescent girls are more prone to body dissatisfaction than adolescent boys; however the rate of body dissatisfaction in males is rapidly approaching that of femalesLow self-esteem and/or depressionPersonality traits - people with perfectionist tendencies, high achievers, 'black and white' thinkers, those who internalise beauty ideals, and those who often compare themselves to others, are at higher risk of developing body dissatisfactionTeasing - people who are teased about appearance/weight, regardless of actual body type, have an increased risk of developing body dissatisfactionFriends and family who diet and express body image concerns - role models expressing body image concerns and modelling weight loss behaviours, can increase the likelihood of an individual developing body dissatisfaction regardless of actual body typeBody size - In our weight conscious society, larger body size increases risk of body dissatisfactionIn western society, body dissatisfaction has become a cultural norm.