Depression and Body Image
American society places a tremendous emphasis on physical appearance. Many adolescent girls go to great lengths to achieve these unrealistic standards of thinness. Eating disorders have become a prevalent disease in Western society. Dissatisfaction with one’s physical appearance is viewed as a core feature of eating disorders. A negative body image is also a common feature associated with depression. There appears to be a link, although unclear, between depression and a poor body image.
Adolescence is a tumultuous period in one’s life. Bodies of adolescents are dramatically changing, and these physical changes are associated with changes in body image. Body image pertains to how individuals view and assign meaning to their own bodies. It is a reflection of body structure and function, early and continuing body related experience, life long social response to body appearance, and sociocultural values and ideals regarding the body (Reirdan, 1997).
Adolescence: A Period of Dramatic Change
A normative developmental task for both girls and boys is to assimilate pubertal change into a positively valued body image. This task is more difficult for girls than for boys; girls are more concerned about attractiveness than boys, and they are less satisfied with their appearance (Rierdan, 1989). In a list of body areas, girls were more concerned that their thighs, buttocks and hips were too large. Even normal to thin girls were highly likely to desire smaller thighs, buttocks or hips. It is interesting to note that younger girls, aged 10-12 years, were less likely to select areas of sexual attractiveness, but tended to be dissatisfied with areas such as teeth, face, and feet (Moore, 1993). It is clear th...
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Because of Canada’s boost in the industrial economy and its status in World War II, job options were abundant. By 1942 there was a full employment as hundreds and thousands of Canadian men and women found work in war industries.
Canada’s women and economy experienced some of the positive effects of World War 1, while the Canadians originating from different countries either than France and Great Britain (e.g. Germany, Austria and Ukrainians) experienced a higher level of discrimination. Increased discrimination against “ethnic Canadians” or “enemy aliens”, a bigger and wealthier Canadian economy and a new role and greater independence for women are 3 of the main effects from World War 1 on Canada’s homefront. The homefront of Canada was never the same after the effect of World War 1.
Firstly, women played key supportive roles in the army, even though they were not necessarily foot soldiers; they still contributed greatly to the allied victory in World War Two. When Canada finally decided to allow women to participate in the war, many did not hesitate and was willing to sacrifice their life to protect their country. There were a total of 16221 women enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), 20497 in the Canadian Women’s Army Corps (CWAC), 6665 in the Women’s Royal Canadian Naval Service (WRCNS), and later on in the war about 4439 women entered the nursing servic...
Reverence of nature is one of the main characteristics of Transcendentalism. When Emerson is talking about his Transcendentalist thoughts, he writes, “Philosophically considered, the universe is composed of Nature and the Soul” (Nature 1). Emerson, along with other transcendentalism followers, believe that nature is equal to God, as in both always surround man. Nature is a part of the individual; likewise, the individual is a part of nature. When Emerson talks about his feelings in nature he declared, “I become a transparent eye-ball; I am nothing; I see all; the currents of the Universal Being circulate th...
"In 1800 no jurisdiction in the United Sates had enacted any statutes whatsoever on the subject of abortion... Yet by 1900 virtually every jurisdiction in the United States had laws upon its books that proscribed the practice sharply and declared most abortions to be criminal offenses" (Mohr p. VII).
Anne Sexton's “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” and Thylias Moss' “Lessons from a Mirorr” provide the modern reader with unique interpretations of the age old tale of Snow White. Both works utilize societal ideals of beauty and purity as they are linked to the worth of women as a way to critique this tale.
In John Cheever’s short story, “The Swimmer” he conveys the transformation of the character through the use of the literary element of setting. The story begins in an American, middle class, suburbs. After what seems to be a night of partying and drinking. Neddy Merrill, the main character initially appears very optimistic; he has a perfect family, high social status and very few problems in his life. In spite of his age, he feels young and energetic therefore decides to swim across town through the neighborhood pools. However, his journey becomes less and less enjoyable as the day unfolds. The water become murky, uninviting and he becomes exhausted. Also the people in his surrounding become less cordial including his mistress who wants nothing to do with him. His voyage then comes to an end when he arrives to an empty, abandoned home. The central idea suggests that an unhealthy obsession with the materialistic aspects of life can lead to alienation.
...e are a consumer society and we are driven by images. I think it is a problem the way higher class people use this to improve their fortunes and slowly killing our economy. I agree with Debord on about all of the points he made. I don’t find myself caught up in this consumer society for the most part, but I can see how it grips certain people and it gets to the point where it defines them. I believe that Debord dislikes the new society, so I wish he would have come out and said more negative things about the consumerism. The way Debord states individual points rather than a single theory is interesting because he can jump from one point to another without adhering to certain factors. This allows him to look at things from many different angles, which is important when you’re talking about the world, which is very complex and is comprised of many different variables.
Africa has been an interesting location of conflicts. From the conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea to the revolutionary conflict in Libya and Egypt, one of the greatest conflicts is the Rwandan Genocide. The Rwandan Genocide included two tribes in Rwanda: Tutsis and Hutus. Upon revenge, the Hutus massacred many Tutsis and other Hutus that supported the Tutsis. This gruesome war lasted for a 100 days. Up to this date, there have been many devastating effects on Rwanda and the global community. In addition, many people have not had many acknowledgements for the genocide but from this genocide many lessons have been learned around the world.
Body image can be defined as the picture one has in his mind about the appearance (i.e. size and shape) of his body, and the attitude that he forms toward these characteristics of his body. Thus there are two components of body image: the perceptual part, or how one sees his own body, and the attitudinal part, or how one feels about his perceived bodily appearance (Gardner, 1996). A negative body image can be in the form of mild feelings of unattractiveness to extreme obsession with physical appearance that impairs normal functioning (Rosen, 1995).
Although a great deal of early research on body image and eating disorders focused on upper/middle class Caucasians living in America or under the influence of Western ideals, many researchers are realizing that eating disorders are not isolated to this particular group. They are also realizing the differences in body image between occur in different races and genders (Pate, Pumariega, Hester 1992). Recently, several studies have shown that eating disorders transcend these specific guidelines, and increasingly, researchers are looking at male/female differences, cross-cultural variation and variation within cultures as well. It is impossible to broach the concept of body image without including the general sentiment of the population being studied as it changes from society to society. Americans, Blacks and Asians have been the focus of a significant amount of research on the cultural attributions of eating disorders and differences in body image between cultures.
Body image in both male and female adolescents is a critical issue during the cognitive development of adolescents. Body image refers to how a person sees their body, especially in comparison to others. Society plays an impactful influence on adolescents body image. For instance, women are portrayed in society as needing to be a size zero and be skinny. Women who are thinner make an average of $15,000 more each year, in comparison to obese women. Although, men’s salary does not differentiate between their physical stature. Society also portrays men to be lean and muscular. Society’s interpretation of both genders is unrealistic. Every person’s body type differs. Instead of wanting to be thin or muscular, adolescents should focus on
Snow White by the Brothers Grimm explores the theme of insecurity which can be defined as one’s subjective evaluation of his or her own self. The fairytale is a story about a Queen who seeks to be the prettiest by constantly asking her mirror “Mirror, Mirror, on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?.” Initially it was always her; however, as the story progresses and as her stepdaughter Snow White matures, the mirror states that Snow White is the fairest. This causes the step-mother to try to kill Snow White through a huntsman, using a comb, a corset, and finally an apple. This mirror phrase seems to raise more and more anger the more it is asked. One could assume that the mirror is the judging factor in the phrase, but after a closer look on a psychological level, the
When my mother saw beggars standing on the intersection asking for help, my mom would try to help them by giving them the money, but my father would argue that you should not help because this would only encourage them to rely on other people’s help. My father says they should helped by the government, instate of helped by individuals. It is not our responsibility to take care of them. I disagree with both of them because they do not look at or think about the problem closely enough. I think people are not only facing problems with wealth, but diseases, and war. These are also problems that many people in many other countries also face. If we work together, we may be able to help each other and make this world better. In my opinion, there are several solutions that poor countries and wealthy countries working together could implement that would benefit both.
Teens oftentimes gain dignity and confidence when their physical faults are corrected, but dissatisfaction is shown to decrease the older one gets. Analysis directed toward boys and girls ages 11-18 found that body image satisfaction was higher at age 18 for both boys and girls. Participants were most discontented with reflected the culturally determined stereotypes