Medical Sociology
Ali Mohammad Ghodsi; Esmaeel Balali; Zahra Samadi Akhi Jani; Fereshteh Behrooz
Abstract
In the past, an attractive and normal woman was characterized by having a fat and large body; nowadays, however, values have changed. Now, women consider having a thin, delicate and elongated body as a value trying so hard to gain such value. Based on social values ascribed to a balanced and normal body, ...
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In the past, an attractive and normal woman was characterized by having a fat and large body; nowadays, however, values have changed. Now, women consider having a thin, delicate and elongated body as a value trying so hard to gain such value. Based on social values ascribed to a balanced and normal body, it has become necessary for women to gain this special type of body thereby causing dissatisfaction of body and its resultant increasing rate of anorexia nervosa among adolescents who are the most vulnerable groups exposed to this eating disorder. The current study aims to consider some social factors associated with anorexia nervosa in girl students of Hamadan high schools. This study was conducted using a questionnaire and surveying a sample of 300 girl students. Findings show that there are direct and positive relationships between anorexia nervosa with social comparison, parents’ normative pressure to thinness, friends’ normative pressure to thinness, media and body mass index variables, but there is a reverse and negative relationship between anorexia nervosa with body image variable. Also, friends’ normative pressure to thinness (beta=.24) and body mass index (beta = .13) variables were shown to be effective factors in explaining anorexia nervosa in studying the girl students.
