Risk and protective factors for eating, weight, and body image problems
What difference does age make?
- Among those who have not yet been diagnosed with eating disorders, the older people are the less their risk of developing an eating disorder (Podar and Allik, 2009).
- When an eating disorder has been diagnosed, symptoms of eating disorders increase with age. (Podar and Allik, 2009)
- Female teenagers are five times more likely to experience anorexia than any other age group of women (Pawluck and Gorey, 1998)
- The early teen years (11-14) and late adolescence (18-21) are particularly vulnerable years for developing eating weight and body image problems. These are times of changes in the body, identity, relationships and responsibilities.
