Various theories exist concerning what causes the presence of eating disorders in certain individuals. Some psychologists argue the fact that the disorders are based upon a biological predisposition, derived from studies concerning specific activity in the lateral hypothalamus, the presence of the obese gene, or pituitary insufficiencies, to name a few (Ward, Tiller, Treasure, & Russell, 1999). The other major theory regarding the source of these disorders emphasizes cultural factors and the role they play in their development in an individual. There have been extensive studies concerning these two ideas, resulting in evidence supporting both of the theories. However, this paper will focus upon the second theory of the psychosocial reaction to society as the major focal point for the study of eating disorders.

There are several social pressures that may, either individually or as a group, contribute to the occurrence of eating disorders in certain persons. We have seen a great decline in the body size of models and actresses in the past few decades, concurrent to the huge increase in reported symptoms of destructive eating behavior (Wegner, Hartmann, & Geist, 200

Other comparative studies have obtained similar results to the survey by Heesacker, et al., such as one completed by Gupta, Chaturvedi, Chandarana, and Johnson (2000), which examined the same factors of body image between women in Canada and India. It was clear from this study that the Canadian subjects had a much more overestimated view of their own “level of fatness” than did the females from India. Women in Western cultures are clearly affected by unrealistic standards placed in them either by the media, their peers, or themselves. One should also take into consideration that Western males have also been exposed to these same impractical female images almost to the same degree that females have. Men have seemed to be affected by such ideals in the sense that they are led to view thin females at desirable and overweight females as very unattractive. As a result, most men may fear being ridiculed for dating an overweight woman (Heesacker, et al., 2000), so instead may choose to avoid doing so. Therefore, these incidents may serve as reinforcers for many female’s already-distorted views on beauty.

Another approach of examining the socio-cultural factors that may influence eating disorders beyond studying the media’s influence on individuals in the United States is to compare personal outlooks on body image with those of females in other cultures. This may offer insight to the differences of “Western ideals” and the varying ideals of other non-western countries, and the effects that they have on the mentality of those who accept them as perfect models of how one is supposed to look. Rozin, Fischler, Imada, Sarubin, and Wrzesniewski did a study in 1999, examining this cross-cultural difference in eating attitudes. A questionnaire was distributed to college students as well as random travelers in four different countries—Belgium, France, Japan, and the United States. The survey was constructed to measure individual’s self-reported views about food associations, intake, and anticipated repercussions. The results to this study revealed that American female citizens had the most highly-extreme scores on the questions concerning food aversion, anxiety, and dissatisfaction; with the French and Belgium males scoring the opposite extreme—viewing food as positive and “pleasure-oriented.” In evaluating gender differences between all of the scores for the four various nations, the females, as a group, scored higher than the males in all of the variables, except for the questions concerning the importance of eating as a pleasurable experience, and the culinary associations between foods. However, the American males had the highest scores in these categories in comparison to the men in the other three countries. This relates back to the Western tendency towards an over-concern with thinness and healthy eating, once again supporting the cultural model for eating disorder influence. One would assume that if this tendency were primarily influenced by biological predispositions, there would be a more widespread distribution of scores among each society’s reported outlooks on food and eating patterns. These results manifest the theory that perspectives on eating are very much a product of one’s cultural background.

In a study by Pinhas, Toner, Ali, and Garfinkel (1998), women reported feelings of depression, dissatisfaction and an overall sense of lowered self-esteem after having

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