“Does family or culture have more of an influence on the occurrence of eating disorders?”
My inquiry question for this semester will be “Does family or culture have more of an influence on the occurrence of eating disorders?”. I’m interested in this topic because this complex medical condition is causing people severe physical and mental problems. The myths and stigma around eating disorders aren’t helping the case either. Eating disorders can be fatal. More and more people, especially teens, have spoken up about their eating disorders nowadays on social platforms like Instagram and tiktok. A lot of those videos/ posts on social media is about their recovery journey, but i want to know how this problem had become such a big issue in society. Is it the diet culture? The family constantly saying things like “oh are you sure you want to eat this”, “your arm looks thicker”, unaware of the impact words can leave on their children? Their culture normalizing skinny/ bony bodies as a beauty standard? It might be all of them, but I want to know which one (family vs culture vs something else?) has the most impact on eating disorders.
Hey Ronnie,
I think you chose a very interesting and equally important question. Eating disorders are very serious and I know there are several misconceptions about weight loss that can be very dangerous. Society can have a big effect on many insecurities because of the standards they set, but I like how you are exploring the more personal side of family expectations as well. I look forward to reading your posts!
Rasee
Hi Ronnie!
This is an interesting topic you have chosen. I think the topic you will be researching will be beneficial to many people! I think it is great that you will be diving into the family side of influence as well as culture.
I am looking forward to your research rounds!
Hi Ronnie!
This is a really interesting topic, and I’m really looking forward to seeing what you find out. Like Rasee mentioned, we often spend so much time looking at how society causes eating disorders, we often overlook the fact that families can cause them too. I’ll link some articles below that I think will be able to help your research:
A general overview from Health link BC:
ttps://www.healthlinkbc.ca/health-topics/hw47995#:~:text=Eating%20disorders%20occur%20most%20often%20in%20industrialized%20cultures,are%20more%20likely%20(predisposed)%20to%20get%20the%20disorders.
About the correlation between family relationships and eating disorders:
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-328X/10/4/71/htm
This one’s a little heavy and very academically written, but it has a lot of information.
How different cultures are affected by eating disorders:
https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/culture-and-eating-disorders
Good luck with your research,
Jasmine 🙂
Hi Ronnie,
Thank you for addressing this topic! ANAD actually says that “Eating disorders affect at least 9% of the population worldwide. 9% of the U.S. population, or 28.8 million Americans, will have an eating disorder in their lifetime.”
I would greatly consider using statistics with your research as well. You can learn a lot from ANAD, as mentioned. As for us Canadians, National Eating Disorder Information Centre (NEDIC). NEDIC provides information, resources, referrals and support to Canadians affected by eating disorders.
Learn more here:
https://anad.org/get-informed/about-eating-disorders/eating-disorders-statistics/
https://nedic.ca/
https://anad.org/get-informed/about-eating-disorders/eating-disorders-statistics/
Warm Regards,
Galicia.