How are teens pressured to lose weight?and by who?

Question

im writng a psychology paper and i cant find any information on this topic. any advice or answers would really help.
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thankyou, xoxo

Answer 1

Media is the cause of everything.

Answer 2

I coached cheerleading for 7 years before I finally get fed up with the administration.
As a former coach, I was told that I had to make sure all of my girls "made weight" meaning that they couldn't be 5 plus pounds over what the athletic department considered perfect weight. If they were, they had until the next game to make weight or be benched (this was at the high school level).
When I coached at the Jr. High level, I had no weight requirements. If you could do the cheers, the jumps, and stunts, the dances, etc. you were placed on the squad.

If my mind serves me correctly, I think Cheerleader Magazine did a stint on Cheerleading and eating disorders. I am sure that if you look on any of the sights that have to do with eating disorders may help. Or...... Go to the source. Call various Jr. High's and High Schools and talk to students about this issue. They are after all your best source.

GOOD LUCK!!!!!!

Answer 3

Teens are pressured to lose weight because they are self confident about themselves. The good is on the inside but instead their friends or whoever may be judging them is looking at it from the outside. It can be friends, family members, mom, dad, or it could just be you and the way you think of yourself. These people that pressure them get it stuck in their head that they are fat. They then go on an outbreak trying to lose weight. What is really harsh is when mom and dad pressure you. It makes the teen discouraged and self confident making it hard to accomplish simple tasks. All I can say is that the teen being pressured should ignore it because u are what u are and that's the way God made u like it or not.

Answer 4

I also believe that yes the media and the opposite sex pressures mainly females to be thin. However I think we are also too quick to blame these sources. I think the major party at blame is women themselves. We are overly critical and believe that thin=pretty. Ofcourse the media has had an influence on this, but we as women keep this idea alive. By criticising other women and ourselves about our appearance we are only making problems related to self-esteem and weight (such as eating disorders) worse. So an excellent idea for your paper could be to take this different point of view (if you agree with it). You could also mention the standard idea of beauty in your paper. I remember this from my psychology text book and it simply further reinforces the notion that women pressure themselves to lose extreme amounts of weight more than men pressure them. It was demonstrated as a drawing in my Psych book, and it showed the average weight that women thought men found attractive on them, and then it showed the average weight that men actually found attractive on women. The weight that men found attractive on women was significantly higher than what women thought men would find attractive. This really showed me how critical we as women are on our bodies and that it is actually we that percieve we NEED to be unrealistically thin in order to be attractive.
Another point I would like to make, is that the reason we don't see as many teens with eating disorders or teens striving to be thin in other countries is because of cultural factors. In some countries skinny is not considered the best size. Therefore another factor that has to be considered is the culture and societal expectations.

Answer 5

Well, I'm a 17 year old guy who's trying to lose weight. I'm not really pressured by anything, I do it for myself, for my own health. For the last 3 weeks, I've stayed away from soda, chocolate, etc., and I've ran on the treadmill for 30 minutes daily. I went from 190 lbs to 183. So for me, I'm not pressured, I'm motivated by myself. I'm not horribly obese or anything, I actually look pretty fit except for some belly fat. Other teens who might be obese might be made fun of at school and that's what may make them want to lose weight. And like other people have said, there's also the media showing Lindsay Lohan and Mischa Barton and glorifying them as models.

Answer 6

Teenagers face the major challenge of deciding who they are, how they fit into the world, and what they want to do with their lives. Imagine being surrounded by television,music videos, etc, teens see images of slim athletic peers who seem so at ease with themselves, so cool.
Teens in the media exude that kind of cool, along with their perfect lean bodies and six-pack abs. The mirror stares back at overweight teens and keeps shouting to them about how they don’t fit the cool image. They often find it hard to find acceptance among their peers, especially true acceptance without the jokes and snide remarks. Between the mirror and the social isolation, it becomes very difficult to find self-acceptance, and a peaceful feeling about the identity challenge of the teenage years. As a result, overweight teens may experience anxiety or “act out.”

Answer 7

Many think it has to do with the media's portrayals of really thin girls and women.

Here's a great article by USA Today that surveyed teens to see how likely they are to engage in certain activities because they see celebrities engaging in that activity. One of the questions was about losing weight and who/what influences teens to try losing weight. They had to select between friends, family, media, parents, teachers, etc. It seems media has a big role in it, take a look at the article by going to this website:

http://www.usaweekend.com/06_issues/060521/060521teens_and_celebs.html

Answer 8

Teens are pressured to lose weight from mean girls, guys, seeing thin celebrities on television and even their own parents. Large girls don't always fit in at school so girls try their hardest to be skinny to make friends and have boyfriends and just be accepted into society because many Americans' ideal image of a girl is a skinny girl with big boobs.

Answer 9

Society pressures them. It's everywhere in magazines, newspapers, internet, television. How being over weight is wrong and unhealthy at any age. Then they have all these celebrities that are plastered everywhere and people telling them they should look like that. It's the appropriate way to look, to dress, etc.

Answer 10

well I am my biggest critic and I find that I read fashion magazines and feel so terrible that I dont look like the models that are 6'0...standing at only 5'0 I have realized that no matter how much weight I force my self to loose I will never look long and leggy. but to answer your question I pressure my self to loose weight, for my self...and because I worry about how I look and of course how others veiw me.

Answer 11

Teens are Pressured byalot of things themselfs, other teens abuse, and media.Some ways are to look good. Also about self control they need something stable in there life.