The Body image of middle adolescent girls

Abstract

The prevalence of dieting is alarmingly high amongst adolescents in South Africa. Dieting behaviour, influenced by the promotion of the thin ideal, poses one of the main risks for eating disorders, which have serious physical, psychological and social consequences, including death. Treatment of eating disorders is a costly, difficult and long-term process, therefore preventative measures have been advocated. One of the shortcomings of existing school-based primary intervention programmes has been the failure to bring about significant changes in body image, a key defining feature of eating disorders. This study evaluates the effectiveness of a modified version of Rosen's body image programme with adolescents, with the view to exploring the idea of adding a body image component to existing preventative programmes. The modified version of Rosen's programme proved to be effective in improving the body image of mid-adolescents.