Promoting healthy teen body image

Compulsive overeating, anorexia, bulimia: Millions of Americans suffer from one of these harmful eating disorders. Research shows that most eating disorders are a result of poor body image, and many studies have attempted to figure out the root causes, especially among young girls. Liddy Hope, Ph.D. candidate in family social science, is focusing on how families affect body image.

“Sometimes as parents we don’t realize that the things we do and say might negatively impact our children’s self esteem,” Hope says.” When parents diet or talk about appearances, she explains, they may be fueling their child’s poor body image.

Hope is teaming up with Aveda to educate families about positive body image and to help parents and teens work through a wide range of body image issues and decisions. In one class on acne, teens and their parents will learn not only how to treat the skin, but also how to deal with the self-esteem issues that often accompany skin problems. Another class educates kids about the long-term consequences of tattoos.

“The thing that is great about this program with Aveda is that it serves as an intermediary between parents and kids,” says Hope, “These small steps toward encouraging positive family interaction around body image issues could mean huge gains in healthy eating and positive self-esteem.”

Originally printed in the spring 2005 issue of Kaleidoscope