The Influence of the Media on Teenage Anorexia

The Influence of the Media on Teenage Anorexia

Acknowledgements

Firstly I would like to thank the Lord my God for His love and guidance in everything that I do including writing this dissertation. I would like to thank my family and friends for supporting me through the last three years of hard work.

I want to thank my Dad who has always drummed it into my head since I was a little girl, that I can achieve anything that I put my mind on as long as I am a book worm. Thank you Dad for your wise words. I also want to thank my mum for encouraging me to keep going and take each day as it comes when the tough got going. Though I sometimes felt like giving up writing this dissertation, you always managed to make me see through the hard work and anticipate the fruits of my labour.

A big thank you to my siblings, Maryline, Melody, Tsitsi and Nyasha. I know you look up to me to be exemplary to you guys in all that I achieve. That alone spurred me on to give this dissertation my best shot.

Thank you to my friends for helping me unwind during my timeout from this work.

I would also like to extend my great appreciation to my mentor and supervisor, Jan Clarke, for helping me when I was at my wits end.

Finally, I would like to say to everyone who has helped and has been there for me- I hope I did you proud.

Contents

Chapter 1.0 Introduction

1.0 Introduction....................................................................9

1.1 Rationale.....................................................................10

1.2 Objective of Dissertation...................................................11

1.3 Definition of Terms..........................................................13

1.3.1 Anorexia Nervosa...................................................13

1.3.2 Teenagers/ Adolescents.....................................13

1.3.3 The Media....................................................14

1.3.4 Thin-Ideal Media............................................14

1.3.5 Influence..................................................... 15

Chapter 2.0 Methodology

2.1 Introduction...................................................................17

2.2 What is Literature Review?................................................................17

2.3 Literature Search Strategy..................................................18

2.3.1 Electronic Search.................................................18

2.3.2 Hand search strategy.............................................19

2.3.3 Search Strategy Design..........................................19

2.4 Study Selection Criteria.....................................................20

2.5 Study Design.................................................................21

2.6 Sample .......................................................................22

2.7 Publications..................................................................22

2.8 Methodogical Problems and issues ......................................23

Chapter 3.0 A Review of the theories of the cause of

Adolescent Anorexia Nervosa

3.1 Introduction................................................................25

3.2 What are Eating Disorders?............................................................25

3.3 Anorexia Nervosa.........................................................26

3.3.1 Brief history ....................................................26

3.3.2 The ICD-10 (F50.0) definition of anorexia nervosa. ......28

3.3.3 Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM- IV)

Definition of Anorexia Nervosa........................28

3.3.4 Symptoms........................................................29

3.4 The Incidence of Anorexia in the Adolescent Girls...................29

3.5 Causes of Anorexia Nervosa.............................................31

3.5.1 Biological and Genetics Theories............................32

3.5.2 Family Dynamics...............................................33

3.5.3 Individual Personality..........................................34

3.5.4 Media Influence as a Sociocultural Theory .................34

3.6 Prognosis....................................................................35

Chapter 4.0 Results of the Literature Review

4.1 Included Literature.........................................................38

4.2 Participant Sample.........................................................40

4.3 Outcomes of research papers.............................................42

Chapter