Fatness Phobia & Obesity in Girls
Despite increasing trends in the prevalence
of overweight and obesity, fatness phobia is common during female adolescence.
This study has demonstrated a high level of dissatisfaction with body
weight in a sample of Dublin schoolgirls aged 15 y. Of 420 subjects, 59
percent reported that they wanted to be slimmer and 68 percent had previously
tried to lose weight. Contrary to expectations, overweight girls were
not found to hold the monopoly on such dissatisfactions. Normal weight
and even underweight girls also expressed a desire to be thinner and reported
using unhealthy weight control practices including random avoidance of
staple foods, fasting, smoking and purging, in their pursuit of the 'perfect'
female figure. Obesity prevention programmes which target adolescent girls
'at risk' of overweight and obesity, must take cognizance of their profound
fear of fatness, otherwise the use of harmful slimming strategies may
be further increased as teenage girls frantically try to lose weight and
to avoid the stigma associated with female fatness.
Source: Ryan YM, Gibney MJ, Flynn MA. Department
of Biological Sciences, Dublin Institute of Technology, Ireland. 1998
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