Self-Esteem and Development of Eating Disorders - Essay Example

? Literature Search Literature Search When conducting my research on why self-esteem is a critical factor in the development of eating disorders, I found out that ProQuest is a great source for gathering information. ProQuest was the best choice for me because it presented information from 1800 to the present. It created a strong platform where one can analyse past events and how they appear in the present. It was easy to use ProQuest because I have used it in my past research projects. ProQuest significantly helped to achieve the intended results. When searching for information, I used the search term AND that enabled me to find all documents with two words. At this point, I used alternative terms such as Self-esteem AND the development of eating disorders and as a result, I retrieved adequate results for the research. In essence, the research majored more on the two subjects “Self-esteem” and “The development of eating disorders.” Understanding the two terms creates a strong ground to gather adequate information from different sources. Typically, I combined the two terms with the search operator AND. From the iterations of the search, I found more results from 2005 to date that discuss about self-esteem and eating disorders. Additionally, there were more options suggested by ProQuest that relate to the similar research such as self-image and eating disorders, body-image and eating disorders, and body-dissatisfaction and development of eating disorders. Further, I obtained 300 results that relate to the mentioned terms. I adjusted my search by finding the best articles that provide a comprehensive analysis of the subject self-esteem and development of the disorder. To gather the intended results, I limited my search to a particular date of publication. In return, this narrowed my search results to a particular period. I established the need to search the subject from 2005 to date. Summary of Articles In the article entitled, Social Comparison and Body Image in Adolescence: a Grounded Theory Approach, Krayer, Ingledew, and Iphofen (2007) conducted a research on how self-esteem is a grounded factor that leads to eating disorders. In brief, the article explored that the use of social comparison in adolescents’ lives can counter threats to self-image or body image. According to this article, a better understanding of self-esteem might be relevant to promote the health of adolescents. Treatments for body image dissatisfaction focus more on changing the diet with an aim of changing the body weight and shape. This article created insights on how media idealize the perfect image for boys and girls where the former focus more on building muscles and the latter on maintaining a certain ideal shape. The aim of this study was to analyze the nature of social comparison with a particular interest on eating disorders. The grounded theory was the most appropriate source of information. To gather the intended results, the article collected data from 20 participants from two schools who volunteered for the present study. Further, the research collected its data via structured interview seeking information on how social comparison affects most adolescents. Questions focused more on media influence on body image and answers were further analysed as per the grounded theory approach. From the results, the girls were more concerned with their appearance than boys. In general, the boys were concerned with building their muscles. The participants agreed that media play a vital role in building self-image. Most girls agreed that they were on diet to cut weight. Nevertheless, the boys agreed that they eat more to build their muscles. Based on the findings, it is clear that self-esteem is a crucial factor that leads to eating disorders in adolescents. In their article, Graduate Students' Social and Emotional Functioning Relative to Characteristics of Eating Disorders, Grabarek and Cooper (2008) explored on the relations between emotional and social functioning of graduate students between 20 and 25 years. In brief, this article discussed self-esteem as being the most potent factor for eating disorders. After conducting a comprehensive research on this subject, this article found out that female graduate students have a strong drive to be thin while male students drive to have strong muscles. This article explored that most graduate students are affected by their body appearance and weight. This explains why many would do anything to achieve the ideal definition of beauty or body-image. This research collected data from graduates’ students between 20-25 years. The participants were from different races ranging from African American, White, Hispanic, Asian American, and other. Among women in this sample, 2.5 % identified themselves as Hispanic, 7.5 % as African American, and 90 % as White. Among men participants, 87 % were White and 13 % in other ethnic categories. Questionnaires were set for the participants on how self-image is associated with eating disorders. Data was collected from the answers given from the participants on how their body image affects their eating patterns or habits. Some of the questions included how media affects their body image interpretation and how body dissatisfaction affects most graduate students. The result was further analyzed for male and female students using the BMIs. The results indicated that, 20 % were overweight, 50 % had normal weight, 10 % were low weight, and 20% were obese. These findings indicated that most graduate students have the largest criteria for eating disorders. Overall, the results indicated that most students have a strong drive to attain an ideal body image and appearance. This article showed that, most females have a strong drive for thinness and men for muscles and in turn, this affects their eating patterns. To sum up, the two articles have summarized how self-esteem is a critical aspect in the development of eating disorders. In summary, the two articles have created insights on how most females have a strong drive for thinness while men for strong muscles. Media has a strong influence on body and self-image. For instance, most female whites believe that they should be thin to attract attention. This misconception causes many to change their diet with an aim of achieving the ideal beauty. However, most societies consider that men should have strong muscles. With this, most men tend to eat more to build their muscles. From the ongoing discussion, it is evident that self-esteem is a crucial factor that affects most adolescents. The salience of poor body image in adolescents has negative consequences of overfeeding or not feeding. People suffering from low-esteem often follow a path of developing eating disorders. The findings from the two articles show that, despite that most men are heavier; they are more content with their bodies. However, women are discontent with being fat and they would do anything to attain a certain body weight. Bibliography Grabarek, C. & Cooper, S. 2008, "Graduate Students' Social and Emotional Functioning Relative to Characteristics of Eating Disorders", The Journal of general psychology, vol. 135, no. 4, pp. 425-51. Krayer, A, Ingledew, D. K., and Iphofen, R. 2008, “Social comparison and body image in adolescence: a Grounded Theory Approach”, Health Education Research, vol.23, no.5, pg. 892-903. Read More