The 14 Risk Factors for Eating Disorders

These are the risk factors associated with EDs, elements that predispose us to suffer from them.

EDs are disorders that are very difficult to treat, which unfortunately have been on the rise in the last 50 years, thanks, above all, to the promotion of an unrealistic image of what is beautiful and unhealthy eating habits.

In this article we will look at the risk factors for suffering from an EDIn this article we are going to look at the risk factors for suffering an ED, explaining them in more detail and highlighting how they influence the appearance, in particular, of anorexia and bulimia.

Risk factors for eating disorders.

The cause of eating disorders or EDs (anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder and eating disorder not otherwise specified) is multifactorial. That is, several factors are involved in its formation, including genetic aspects, psychological characteristics, sociocultural factors and environmental stressors.sociocultural factors and environmental stressors.

Although the specific weight of each of these factors and their components is not yet known with certainty, it is known that gender influences the chances of suffering from an ED. Of every ten people diagnosed with an ED, nine are women, and there is a higher risk of developing an ED. there is a higher risk of being diagnosed in early adulthood and childhood or prepubertal age..

Risk factors are those that facilitate the onset of eating disorders. They can be individual, group and social factors. The combination of these different risk factors can lead to the development and maintenance of the disease.

The following are some of the risk factors that can lead to the development and maintenance of the disease we will see these risk factors for eating disorders, grouped into individual factors, family factors and social factors, with which we will better understand how these eating disorders occur.These risk factors are grouped into individual factors, family factors and social factors, which will help us to better understand how these eating disorders occur.

Individual factors

Next we will see the factors associated with the person's own characteristics, whether of Biological or social origin.

Genetic predisposition

One is more prone to suffer from an ED if a family member, especially a father, mother, brother or sister, has been diagnosed with one in the past. It has been found that, in the case of anorexia, genetics seems to explain about 70% of the vulnerability to being diagnosed with an ED..

Genetics can cause the person to have an unhealthy tendency towards food, causing them to eat more than they need or, on the contrary, to consume fewer calories than are needed to maintain organic functions.

The weight of this factor can be increased by other environmental factors, such as family environments in which excessive importance is given to weight or unhealthy eating habits, as well as factors such as the group of friends.

Psychological traits

There are certain personality traits, such as having too high a self-demand, perfectionistic tendencies close to obsession, cognitive rigidity and a need for control that are closely related to having an eating disorder. This makes sense considering the ease with which people with eating disorders focus their attention on their perceived shortcomings and wrong actions related to the way they eat.

3. Low self-esteem

Low self-esteem involves making a negative and unsatisfactory assessment of oneself, which can affect any area of life, especially in relation to food and how one sees oneself in the mirror.

In the case of people with anorexia, this low self-esteem is easily observable by how they view themselves, overestimating their body size.

When they see themselves in the mirror or try on clothes, a whole series of negative emotions are triggered that aggravate, even more, the fact of having low self-esteem and worsen the symptoms of ED.

4. Adolescence

A rough and traumatic adolescence is a very common event in people who, as adults, are diagnosed with an in people who, as adults, are diagnosed with an ED. It is in these years that there is a higher risk of developing an eating disorder, since this is when it usually makes its debut, although the diagnosis is aggravated after the age of majority.

Adolescence is a complicated stage, in which the personality, social role and self-esteem of the person are in full development, being more vulnerable to a social environment in which great importance is given to body image.

5. Female sex

As we were saying before, out of every 10 cases of ED, 9 are female and 1 is male.. As can be seen, the chances of a woman being diagnosed with one of the eating disorders are much higher. This is believed to have much to do with gender roles, as the social pressure directed towards women to fit the canons of beauty is significantly higher than that experienced by men.

Family factors

Now let's look at the factors that come directly from the family, how they relate to the potential ED victim and how they handle the diagnosis.

6. Unstructured family environment

In those families in which there is no stable and secure structure, a breeding ground for the development of an ED is generated in some of its members, especially adolescent girls.

7. Overprotective family environment

Sometimes, the desire to protect the members of a family is done in such an exaggerated and toxic way that it contributes to the development of psychopathology among its members.

There is a greater risk that a person who has lived with an ED will be diagnosed with an ED. a family dynamic that is too rigid, controlling and demanding.e.

8. Stressful family experiences

Changes in the way the family is formed, either by separation, death of a family member or birth of a brother or sister that has not been handled in the best way, can make a family member see it as especially traumatic.

It may also have happened that, within the same family, one of the members has committed physical or sexual abuse towards another family member, causing the latter to be traumatized for life and to cope with the problem through the symptoms of ED.

Social Factors

Finally, we will look at the risk factors that come from society itself, how it is structured and the way it is structured.The social structure of society, how it is structured and the way in which it relates to and treats its members, especially women.

9. Current beauty canon

Although in recent years "curvy" seems to be more popular, and a wider range of women with all types of physiques are beginning to be seen as attractive, the canon of feminine beauty continues to be that of a thin woman, with no fat or muscle at all.

Excessive thinness has been extolled in multiple media, especially in fashion shows.especially in fashion shows and on the covers of celebrity magazines.

Although great changes are being achieved, there are many women who, influenced by these media, continue to reject the idea of looking fat, seeing it as something really grotesque, and defending that extreme thinness is 'healthy'.

10. Social pressure regarding image

Related to the previous point, in the last decades, both men and women have been giving more importance to image.

Not only are we talking about women being bombarded with images of extreme thinness as a synonym for beauty, but they are also pressured by family members, friends and others to look the same.

This is not only visible in women, it also occurs in men, but because the male canon of beauty is not only for women, but also for men. the male beauty canon is very different, prioritizing extreme muscularity and pressuring to be and pressuring to be lean, vigorexia, the disorder associated with it, is not an ED.

11. Some sports and professions

There are certain sports, such as dance or synchronized swimming, in which the appearance of an EDD may be favored, due to the way in which they are practiced.because of the way in which the image is treated when practicing this type of activity. Other sports in which there is a risk of having a great obsession with weight and what you eat are those in which you compete in weight categories.

People who work in fashion, show business or are actors and actresses also run the risk of placing too much importance on their body image and may enter the murky world of OCD.

12. Physical harassment

People who have been teased and taunted about their physique, especially as teenagers and children, combined with a feeling of insecurity, may end up with a feeling of insecurity may end up developing an obsession with their body image, and evolve into something more serious.and evolve into something more serious.

13. The sizing system

The sizing of clothes, shoes and other items of clothing is not a unified system. Each manufacturer applies its own standards as to which garment should be classified in one size or another. This means that a size M in one store may be equivalent to a S or L in other stores.

It may seem trivial, but it is not, especially if you are a woman who has always believed she was the right size, changes stores and finds that the same size is too small, and decides to lose weight, even though she is already slim. It is very difficult to know your exact size..

According to the report "Not finding your size promotes anorexia", about 40% of the population decides to go on a diet when, while shopping, they can't find clothes in their size, or they thought they had one and it turns out that they have one.or they thought they had one and it turns out that, in the end, they are too small.

14. Pages that promote the TCAs

There are people who have these TCA that, far from seeking help to try to get out of the pit or try to understand their problem, they make an apology for it, although this is not difficult to understand.Although this is not difficult to understand if you understand the way in which the canon of beauty is still in force.

The existence of pages like Pro-Ana and Pro-Mia not only defend having an ED as a way of life, but also dare to give advice to 'help' other girls to go ahead with their anorexia or bulimia.

They also teach how to trick family members into believing that they are eating or that their body is simply that way because of genetics. Access to these types of pages is very easy and, despite the fact that more than one has been shut down, they emerge as if it were an epidemic.

Bibliographic references:

• Associació contra l'Anorèxia i la Bulímia (n.d.). Associació contra l'Anorèxia i la Bulímia. Barcelona, Spain. Retrieved from: http://www.acab.org/es.
• Attia, E. (2010). Anorexia nervosa: current status and future directions. Annual Review of Medicine. 61 (1): 425-35.
• Fuglset, T.S.; Landrø, N.I.; Reas, D.L.; Rø, Ø. (2016). Functional brain alterations in anorexia nervosa: a scoping review. Journal of Eating Disorders. 4: 32.
• Portela de Santana, M. L., da Costa Ribeiro, H., Mora Giral, M., & Raich, R. M. (2012). The epidemiology and risk factors of eating disorders in adolescence; a review. Nutr. Hosp. 27(2), 391-401.
• Sari, F.S. (2009). 100 Questions & Answers About Anorexia Nervosa. Jones & Bartlett Learning. p. xvi.