Boys also have become victims to disorders like anorexia and bulimia which has initially haunted the girls. But a UK study showed that 500 teenagers are affected due to sheer peer pressure, families and friends. The research is published in the British Journal of Health Psychology. The authors wanted to analyze the gap in the literature and look at what influences eating habits among male and female adolescents.
Such questions were seriously thought only when there is an increasing level of eating disorders amongst boys. The researchers looked at 507 adolescents aged 11-16 from a school in West Sussex. There were 250 girls and 257 boys. They were asked about peer pressures to be thin, asked about their eating habits and how they felt about their bodies. Dr Halliwell said that there were similar factors affecting both the boys and girls in terms of producing disordered types of eating. Deanne Jade, of the National Centre for Eating Disorders, was surprised that the research suggested boys were affected by similar pressures about their body image as girls.Source
Eurka
