Self Image/Media Influences

Teen girls are more afraid of gaining weight than they are of cancer, nuclear war, or losing a parent

Teens are barraged with a constant stream of media and peer pressures related to body image. The media tells them their value is based on their outward appearance. Society tells them that they must be thinner or more muscular to be loved, accepted and successful in life. We tell them that beauty is more than skin deep. Book a speaker for your student assembly to empower your students to look beyond the media’s view of beauty and not fall into the traps of eating disorders and negative body image.

The Facts about teens and Self Image:

• In one study, 3 out of 4 women stated that they were overweight although only 1 out of 4 actually were – Rader Programs
• While only one out of ten high school girls are overweight, nine out of ten high school juniors and seniors diet – Rader Programs
• Among children 8-10 years old, 50% are dissatisfied with their bodies – Eating Disorders 411
• A study found that adolescent girls were more fearful of gaining weight than getting cancer, nuclear war or losing their parents – Rader Programs
• Teen pregnancy statistics show that girls who engage in unprotected sex often have lower self esteem - Family First Aid

The Facts about Media Influence on body image:

• 69% of girls in 5th – 12th grades reported that magazine pictures influenced their idea of a perfect body shape - National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders
• Following the viewing of images of female fashion models, seven out of ten women felt more depressed and angrier than prior to viewing the images – Rader Programs
• 80% of women who answered a People magazine survey responded that images of women on television and in the movies make them feel insecure – Rader Programs
• The body type portrayed in advertising as the ideal is possessed naturally by only 5% of American females – National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders
• An average US woman is 5’4” tall weighing 140 pounds; the average US model is 5’11” weighing 117 pounds – West Virginia Dept of Education
  

The Facts about teens and Eating Disorders:

• 90% of people with eating disorders are women between the ages of 12 and 25 - Family First Aid
• Over half of teenage girls and a third of teenage boys use unhealthy weight control behaviors such as skipping meals, fasting, smoking cigarettes, vomiting, and taking laxatives – National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders
• Men are less likely to seek treatment for eating disorders because of the perception that they are woman’s diseases  – National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders
• Anorexia has the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric illness - National Alliance on Mental Illness
• Anorexia is the 3^rd most common chronic illness among adolescents – National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders
• Studies indicate that 50% of those who have anorexia nervosa later develop bulimia nervosa -  National Alliance on Mental Illness

What we do:

Just Say YES speakers provide insight and relate personal experience to help students combat the pressures of conforming to a certain body image. Self Image programs offer encouragement and support for students dealing with eating disorders and other body image related risk behaviors. Learn more about how Just Say YES can empower your students to say YES to self-acceptance and no to negative body image.

Read Don’t Buy the Lie for more on self image issues and media influence.