In current day America we live in an age where information and knowledge are always at our disposal. Whether it is through phones, television, or the internet, we are always connected. However, despite all the available information and knowledge we as a country are not using it to become as healthy as possible. We rank seventeenth out of seventeen developed countries in a recent study done by the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine of the National Academics (Rubenstein, 2013). The culture that we live in should be home to a number of healthy practices due to this incredible amount of knowledge we have, but it is not. Among the many unhealthy practices, eating disorders pose a large threat to our society, especially in the
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Many researchers believe that the media creates a “thin ideal” which women strive to obtain. For example, it is true that there is a parallel increase in the number of United States eating disorder cases to the number of articles and advertisements in media outlets (Wiseman, Gray, Mosimann, & Ahrens, 1992). In 1992 a team of researchers led by Eric Stice used this idea and aimed to determine whether or not the media had a direct effect on the pathology of eating disorders. The researchers used a pool of 238 female undergraduates. The female undergrads completed a questionnaire. The questionnaire was ten pages and contained sections titled media exposure, gender-role endorsement, idea-body stereotype internalization, body dissatisfaction, and eating disorder symptomology. The researchers found that media exposure did have a direct effect on eating disorder symptoms. They concluded that the internalization of sociocultural pressures mediates the effect of the “thin ideal” (Stice, Schupak-Neuberg, Shaw, & Stein, 1994 …show more content…
In this study the researchers examined 171 Japanese females and 144 American females, all of whom were undergraduate students (Mukai , Kambara , & Sasaki , 1998 ). The female students completed a questionnaire that included several sections. The sections included demographic information and weight perception, body dissatisfaction, eating disorders, and need for social approval. What the researchers found was interesting. Japanese women and American women developed eating disorders for different reasons. The study explains that Japanese women and American women both named body dissatisfaction as a reason for disordered eating (Mukai , Kambara, & Sasaki, 1998). However, for American women, actual body fatness played a major role, compared to Japanese women who named the need for social approval as a leading factor. This finding introduces a potential difference in the two cultures. The difference may lie in the society. For example, in Japanese culture women are more concerned with being accepted, whereas American women are more obsessed with the idea of
Many researchers believe that the media creates a “thin ideal” which women strive to obtain. For example, it is true that there is a parallel increase in the number of United States eating disorder cases to the number of articles and advertisements in media outlets (Wiseman, Gray, Mosimann, & Ahrens, 1992). In 1992 a team of researchers led by Eric Stice used this idea and aimed to determine whether or not the media had a direct effect on the pathology of eating disorders. The researchers used a pool of 238 female undergraduates. The female undergrads completed a questionnaire. The questionnaire was ten pages and contained sections titled media exposure, gender-role endorsement, idea-body stereotype internalization, body dissatisfaction, and eating disorder symptomology. The researchers found that media exposure did have a direct effect on eating disorder symptoms. They concluded that the internalization of sociocultural pressures mediates the effect of the “thin ideal” (Stice, Schupak-Neuberg, Shaw, & Stein, 1994 …show more content…
In this study the researchers examined 171 Japanese females and 144 American females, all of whom were undergraduate students (Mukai , Kambara , & Sasaki , 1998 ). The female students completed a questionnaire that included several sections. The sections included demographic information and weight perception, body dissatisfaction, eating disorders, and need for social approval. What the researchers found was interesting. Japanese women and American women developed eating disorders for different reasons. The study explains that Japanese women and American women both named body dissatisfaction as a reason for disordered eating (Mukai , Kambara, & Sasaki, 1998). However, for American women, actual body fatness played a major role, compared to Japanese women who named the need for social approval as a leading factor. This finding introduces a potential difference in the two cultures. The difference may lie in the society. For example, in Japanese culture women are more concerned with being accepted, whereas American women are more obsessed with the idea of