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Developping Lifespan-Eating Disorders

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Explain how eating disorders develop in adolescent females.
What risk factors are common amongst those who develop disorders?
Using one of the developmental theories that we have studied, explain how the adolescent's self-identity is affected by having an eating disorder.
Propose interventions that could be used to reduce the risk of developing an eating disorder with an adolescent who is still experimenting with food reduction.
Use a minimum of five scholarly journals, books, articles, or other academic sources.
4-5 pages.

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Solution Summary

The solution provides information, assistance and advise in tackling the task (see above) of putting together a paper of how eating disorders develop in teens. Risk factors, developmental theories, teen self-identity and interventions are discussed. Resources are listed for further exploration of the topic. An outline is also suggested.

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Dear Student,
Hi and thank you for using Brainmass. The solution below should get you started. In this particular task, you are being asked to provide a 4-5 page response on the topic of teen (female) eating disorders. Based on the task, I suggest using this outline:

1. Introduction - what the paper is about, what can be expected in the paper - 150 words
2. Eating disorders in females - how it develops/context - 150 words
3. Risk factors common in eating disorders among teens/girls - 150 words
4. Developmental theory (Erikson) application as lens to explain self identity and eating disorder - 150
5. Possible interventions (present 2 - 150 words each)
6. Conclusion - 100 words

This should yield around 1000 words which should cover 4 pages text-wise following the 12-size Times New Roman font, double-spaced standard. You can also use the listed resources to further explore the topic. Good luck with your studies and thank you for using Brainmass.

Sincerely,
AE 105878/Xenia Jones

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Eating Disorder Issues among Teen Girls

Introduction

A study by the National Association of Social Workers (2001) reported that among teenage girls, there is an increased value placed upon peer approval and acceptance. The rapid emotional and physical changes during adolescence and the social setting of teenage life increase the influence of external influences and social messages brought in via media, the social network and one's own culture. Body image becomes important - this influences the concept of self, the notion of identity. When magazines, newspapers, TV and much of the media that reach them expound on the importance of beauty - where beauty is equated to being slim and thin - and being beautiful is rewarded by admiration, love and attention wherein the beautiful girl is desired and popular - for teenage girls, to be slim and thin is to be beautiful and desirable, the ultimate ideal. The specific image of this type of beauty is driven by celebrities - movie stars, teen stars, soap stars and models - and with instant access to the mediums these celebrities appear on, with marketing companies using them to sell various products targeting teens, the specific image of a slim and thin girl as beautiful is almost inescapable. In this particular paper, I am going to explore eating disorders among teen girls, their context and how they develop, the risk factors common among the many types of eating disorders, explore eating disorders using the lens of Erikson's psychosocial theory and interventions commonly use for eating disorders.

Eating Disorders in Teen Girls

What are eating disorders? Eating disorders primarily are abnormal eating conditions and refer to a group of eating habits that can be about overeating or excessive food intake and insufficient or absence of food intake. These abnormal habits are detrimental to the physical and mental health of teens especially since they need to consume a target set of food as body fuel towards a healthy development as normally, at this stage of their development they are actively building social identities against a setting of confusion (Eriksson, 1959) through social relationships with peers and role models in school and their community. They do this to answer questions about who they are and what they can be. Eating disorders fall under Axis 1 in DSM-IV according to the American Psychiatric Association (Westen & Harnden-Fischer, 2001) and they include the following - Anorexia Nervosa wherein the sufferer refuses to maintain a healthy body weight by refusing to eat; Bulimia Nervosa in which the sufferer, after binge eating, to compensate, self-purges through vomiting, using laxatives or does excessive exercise, becoming a cycle; and lastly, Binge Eating Disorder wherein the girl compulsively overeats without any compensatory behavior resulting to dangerous levels of obesity. These three are the most common eating disorders and elements about them or aspects within each can develop into their own scary and specific disorders as is the case with purging disorder which is an element of bulimia. But 'purgers' do not necessarily binge eat or overeat - even if they eat minimally or just the regular amount - they purge to keep their weight down. Then there is orthorexia ...

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