Janet is a college student who has been restricting her diet since she was an adolescent. She had first experienced the effects of fasting after having the flu and was able to fit into a dress that her mother had bought her. She combats the intake of the few calories she eats with exercise to ensure she is keeping a calorie deficit. Her friends have become worried about her due to her extremely thin appearance. Janet comparers herself to the models that she sees in magazines and has put their pictures up in her room to see daily.
One explanation for Janet’s obsession with her weight is due to the social influences experienced throughout her life. “Sociocultural theorists suggest that when individuals compare their perceived appearance with some other imagined or idealized person, anxiety over personal body image occurs” (Hsien-Jin, 2000, 15). This comparison is seen through Janice’s decoration of her dorm room using pictures of models from magazine. The difference that can be seen between her own body and the model’s body causes her to continue her restrictive dieting. Another example of a sociological influence on Janice’s dietary habits is her mother’s statements and actions towards her. Janice’s mother bought her a dress as a teenager in a size smaller than her regular one with the statement that “butterballs don’t wear pink.” According to Bearman et al. (2008), “Deficits in social support from parents—and to a lesser extent from peers—predicted body dissatisfaction for both boys and girls.” (Risk Factors for Increases in Body Dissatisfaction, paragraph 5). When she was able to wear the dress to a party, she received praise from her mother. This helped shaped a mentality that through weight loss she would gain social validation and acceptance. This validation was strengthened further when her peers began to notice her weight loss and make positive remarks.
Janet has many instances of learned behavior throughout her lifetime that attribute to her low weight maintenance. As previously mentioned, there was a time in Janice’s life where she was able to fit into a party dress that had been given to her one size too small. She was able to fit into the dress due to having the flu and not eating for four days. This instance taught her that she could starve herself to lose weight, which could be the reason why she progressed into such a heavy routine of eating minimal calories and drinking high levels of water.
127 our experts are availableright now
