Psychological Explanations of Anorexia Nervosa Flashcards
Clinical Characteristics
Anxiety - excessive fear of being fat
Weight - Abnormal weight loss when below 85% of indi’s normal weight
Body-image distortion - Don’t see the thinness
Amenorrhoea - Absence of periods for 3 months
Cultural ideals
Many teenagers are dissatisfied with their weight + distorted view of their body image
16% of 15-18 yrs were currently on a diet
Media influences
Portrayal of thin models on TV + mags = contributory factor
Jones + Buckingham: Indis with low-self esteem are more likely to compare themselves to idealised images in media
Ethnicity
AN in non-western cultures + black populations = much lower than white western pop
META: African-Americans = less body dissatisfaction than Caucasian + Hispanic females
Non-western cultures = more +ve attitudes toward large body sizes = associated with attractiveness + fertility
Peer Influences
Adolescents are susceptible to peer influence
US study: Dieting among friends was sig related to unhealthy weight control e.g. diet pills + purging
Jones + Crawford
Overweight girls + underweight boys = more likely to be teased by peers
Suggesting through teasing, peers serve to enforce gender-based ideals
Hilde Bruch
Origins of AN are in early childhood
Effective parents respond to child’s needs
Ineffective parents = fail to respond to child’s internal needs
Children of ineffective P’s = grow up confused about internal needs = overly reliant on their parents. In Adolescence they are unable to establish autonomy = can take control of body shape + size
Perfectionism
Found in AN
Strober et al: Perfectionism in 73% of girls + 50% of boys with AN
Personality traits
Perfectionism
Impulsiveness
Implulsiveness
Research: compared to normal control group, p’s with AN responded rapidly to performance task, indicating behavioural impulsiveness, despite low self-reported impulsiveness
Ethical issues in AN research
Researchers use internet communities as a rich source of qualitative data relating to AN
Internet research on AN raises ethical questions: privacy, informed consent + protection of confidentiality
Real-World Application
Fashion industry, France signed a charter of good will
Charter:a pledge by fashion houses, advertising agencies + magazine editors to use a diversity of body types + not stereotype the ‘thin ideal’
Becker et al
Eating attitudes + behaviours were studied among adolescent Fijian girls following introduction of TV on 1995
Girls stated desire to lose weight to become more like western TV characters
Other research = instructional intervention prior to media exposure to idealised female images prevents adverse effects
Limitation of Cultural Ideals research
Hoek et al
Examined records of people admitted to hospital from 1987-1989 in non-westernised Caribbean island, where it’s acceptable to be overweight
Found 6 cases = within the range of rates of AN reported in western countries
Limitation of Ethnicity research
Regan et al
Found no sig. differences in prevalence of disordered eating between African American + white Caucasian participants
White pop only had higher AN rate than black pops in older adolescents
Bruch’s psychodynamic explanation support
Supported by observations that p’s of adolescents with AN have tendency to define c’s physical needs rather than allowing children to define their own
P’s claim to anticipate c’s needs rather than letting them feel hungry
Also research supports B’s claim that AN rely on opinions of others + worry about they are viewed + feel lack of control
Limitation of peer influences research
Study found no correlation among friends on measures of disordered eating in an adolescent sample
Support for peer influences research
Research found overweight girls + underweight boys were more likely to be teased, gender differences didn’t emerge till adolescence
Lunde et al: found +ve correlation betweenBMI + teasing for both Bs + Gs
Perfectionism + duration
Indis with short illness duration = lower levels of perfectionism
Indis with high perfectionism = risk of long illness duration
Methodological issues
Hard to separate out lasting personality traits from short-lived states that may be caused by starvation
There is frequent reliance on clinically diagnosed samples which represents a biased view of the relationship between personality + disordered eating
