530 Chapter 13survey of ninth through twelfth graders showed
that 59% of females and 31% of males were try-
ing to lose weight (Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention, 2010d). A sizable number had
gone without eating for 24 hours in the past
30 days to lose weight: 15% females and 7%
males. A 2005 Gallup Poll showed that 46% of
American women and 31% of American men
had made three or more serious attempts to
lose weight (Gallup, 2010). One problem with
dieting is that it causes metabolism to decrease
over time, making it increasingly difficult to
lose weight. Thus, after initial pounds are shed,
more extreme methods are required to achieve
the same rate of weight loss.
U.S. society’s image of the ideal woman
is an extremely thin form, really without
shape. Toy models such as Barbie display
unrealistic body shapes. When the measure-
ments of Barbie were compared to the actual
measurements of a sample of 18- to 35-year-
old women, the chances of finding Barbie’s
measurements in this population were esti-
mated to be less than 1 in 100,000 (Norton
et al., 1996). The standards for thinness have
grown increasingly strict and have become
more unrealistic over the past three to four
decades (Siever, 1996). The standards of
the ideal male body also have changed. One
group of investigators examined changes
in male action figures over the previous
30 years, in particular, G. I. Joe and Star Wars
characters (Pope et al., 1999). Over time, the
figures have grown more muscular. Again, if
the dimensions of these figures were trans-
lated into human beings, only the rare adult
male would meet these specifications. Pope
and colleagues contend that changes in these
action toys reflect changing standards of the
male body image. These changes could be
linked to eating disturbances in men.
Today, young women are surrounded
by media exposure to thinness throughwomen are interpersonally oriented, so oth-
ers’ opinions are important to them. Both of
these concerns play a role in eating disorders.
Gender intensification could provide a
framework for understanding eating disorders
as it does for depression. Eating disorders first
appear during adolescence when gender roles
become salient. But, have gender roles been
linked to eating disorders? A meta-analytic
review of the literature found a small positive
relation between psychological femininity, or
communion, and disturbed eating behavior
(d=+.14; Murnen & Smolak, 1997). How-
ever, more recent studies have failed to find a
relation (e.g., Hepp, Spindler, & Milos, 2005).
There may be other aspects of the female
gender role that are more strongly linked to eat-
ing disturbances.Negative femininityseems to
play a role in the development of eating disor-
ders. Negative femininity includes being depen-
dent, weak, timid, and needing others’ approval.
In studies that examine the positive and negative
aspects of femininity, only negative femininity
has emerged as a predictor of disordered eat-
ing behavior—among both heterosexuals and
homosexuals (Lakkis, Ricciardelli, & Williams,
1999; Paxton & Sculthorpe, 1991). Unmitigated
communion is another gender-related trait
that has been implicated in problematic eat-
ing behavior (Helgeson et al., 2007; Mosher &
Danoff-Burg, 2008). Unmitigated communion
individuals have low self-esteem and evaluate
themselves based on others’ views. Thus, they
may be more vulnerable to societal pressures to
be thin. Unmitigated communion is also related
to a poor body image (Helgeson, 2003).Societal Factors. One perspective on eating
disorders places the blame on society’s obses-
sion with dieting and the pressure for thinness
among women. Not surprisingly, dieting ap-
pears to be an antecedent to eating disorders
(Cogan & Ernsberger, 1999). A nationwideM13_HELG0185_04_SE_C13.indd 530 6/21/11 12:55 PM