Who's To Blame For Anorexic Children?

Sports Illustrated Swimsuit cover model Petra Nemcova Photo Credit: Getty Images

When news broke last week that some British girls as young as five years old were being treated for anorexia, many people turned their blame to the usual suspects -- the modelling and media industries.

Ultra-thin models and public figures like Kate Middleton along with Barbie dolls with impossibly thin waists and impossibly big busts are also on that list of blame. Fashion magazines packed with glamorous photos of slender bodies don't help, either.

However according to eating disorder experts thin Barbies and models may not be to blame after all. It's much more complicated than that.

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Drs. Michael P. Levine and Sarah K. Murnen, both of Kenyon College, conducted a comprehensive review of the scientific research about whether or not images of thin women in the mass media cause anorexia. They concluded that a causative link between the mass media and eating disorders remains theoretical and unproven, and that much better research is needed to make the case: “Stronger methodology, in connection with clearly articulated theories...is critically important for clarifying whether mass media are in fact a causal risk for the spectrum of disordered eating.” Their study was published in the January 2009 issue of the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology.

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This is no surprise to researchers at London's Great Ormond Street Hospital, one of the world's leading children's hospitals. Dr. Rachel Bryant-Waugh, head of the hospital’s Eating and Feeding Disorders Service, told the BBC News that much of the recent media coverage linking the mass media to eating disorders in children is “misleading.” Dr. Bryant-Waugh poured cold water on the popular belief that images of thin women and models lead to anorexia: "Models and other society influences are, in our experience, rarely a contributory factor to the development of eating and weight difficulties in young children."

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Dr. Walter Kaye of the University of California at San Diego, one of the country's top eating disorder researchers, agrees that much of the concern and alarm over thin fashion models and media images is misplaced. Writing in Scientific American Mind magazine (June 2008).

"People have long been blaming families and the media, but eating disorders are biological illnesses, and better treatments will come from more biologically-based approaches," Dr. Kaye noted.

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Indeed, anorexia is a rare and even deadly mental illness. But it is not contagious, and cannot be “caught” from looking at photos of thin models. The idea that a model, photo of a model, or Web site can "encourage" anorexia is not supported by science or research. While it's possible that sociocultural factors (friends, family, media) play a part in the development of eating disorders, research has shown that it is only one of many factors that get much less attention and research.

Nevertheless, the assumption that anorexia is caused by the mass media has fueled public concern. For example last year when the thriller Black Swan came out, some people were worried that anorexia rates would surge nationwide because young women who saw the film would decide that they should be as thin as the lead actress, Natalie Portman. (In fact there has been no evidence of an increase in eating disorders caused by the film.)

The fact that the mass media likely plays a much smaller role in eating disorders than the public believes is good news. After all, if the experts are right then we can stop worrying about thin models and Barbie dolls and focus on the factors that really do cause the disease. Even more good news: Surveys and polls show that most girls feel pretty good about themselves, and are not starving themselves to look like thin models and celebrities.

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