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ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-muhonors11150524712021-08-03T05:42:00Z Family Influence in Eating Disorders: Socialization and Family Functioning as Risk Factors Carey, Elisabeth Eating disorders remain, for the most part, an enigma, making both prevention and treatment of this potentially deadly mental disorder a considerable challenge. Eating disorders are unique because of their extremely high occurrence in females versus males, with peak onset occurring in adolescent girls. It is logical then to examine how gender factors into the disease. Women have higher rates of all depressive disorders and food rejection in particular has a long history of occurring in women. There are a number of theories as to what makes women so vulnerable, most pointing to unrealistic expectations or obstacles to success generated by the social construction of gender. These expectations and obstacles can create considerable discord within the psyche of women, a stress which can manifest itself with depressive symptoms like those of eating disorders. In adolescence, girls begin to embody their womanly selves, making the challenges of womanhood seem not only inevitable, but imminent. Compounded by the stress that accompanies pubertal changes, this time can be very difficult for young women leading to many forms of depression including eating disorders. There are a variety of theories as to how children come to understand gender, its functions, and implications, many of which point to the family as the primary socialization agent in terms of gender. Creating a microcosm of society within the context of the family, a child develops a sense of the way that the world works through the family. Not only do they create this environment in which children grow and learn, but they also provide everyday social interactions, many of which have been shown to be affected by gender of the child regardless of the gender messages that parents want to send. In reality, children are much more similar than they are different, but they will accept the messages that their parents send them. Explicit messages, though, will often override the unconscious ones that parents may send making gender socialization active decision on the part of the parent. Eating disorders seem to aggregate in families and there is a recurring pattern of poor family functioning. Discourse about weight will increase the probability of disorder even in families that do not have functioning problems but can compound the problem in those that do. Pressures about weight can also come from the media, but the family is in a unique position as they are actually able to mediate the effects of cultural pressures from the media. Causal models have been unable to describe the course of mental illness; there is considerable disagreement between the cause and effect in many cases and conclusions cannot be confidently drawn from research. It is useful, therefore, to look at the family as a system in order to examine how family functioning affects children in the family. When a system is functioning poorly, it generally manifests itself in its least well member, in this case children with eating disorders. A family system can also, however, be supportive helping children by buffering the effects of stress. This is tremendously important in the case of those who are vulnerable from stresses due to gender or other factors. These individuals will not develop disorder without additional stresses, and family can help buffer those stresses lessening the chance of disorder. As stated, eating disorders are still very much a mystery, but the family clearly plays a role in creating stress and mediating pressures from the outside world. Both are key components in either protecting a vulnerable individual or creating an environment ripe with pressures that will prey on vulnerabilities possibly resulting in disorder. 2005-05-02 English text Miami University Honors Theses / OhioLINK http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=muhonors1115052471 http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=muhonors1115052471 unrestricted This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws.
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