Is Media to Blame for Anorexia?

People believe the role of media in changing perceptions is overrated. The public opinion was revealed in the course of a poll, conducted by Meetville.com (dating app to find the right person) between 8/4/14 and 9/24/14.

The poll was based on the following question: “Is anorexia caused by the media?” 59% believe that media influence is not the only reason for eating disorders. Yet a disturbing number of countries choose to follow the slim body fashion.

According to Susan Albers, HuffPost blogger and Psy.D., exposure to media idols could play a role. "Although thin models are not the cause of eating disorders, they can be a trigger or a factor in maintaining an eating disorder," she said. "In other words, if a woman has a predisposition for an eating disorder and spends a lot of time looking at fashion magazines, this can be one of the factors that triggers feeling bad about her body, which she then turns into eating disorder behavior, like excessive dieting".

Out of 31,425 respondents 55% were from the USA, 4% - from Canada, 12% - from Britain, 7% - from Australia and a large percentage from other countries – 22%.

Alex Cusper, Meetville service analyst, remarks: “We felt it was of utmost importance to carry out this poll, as the scale of the problem should be by no means underestimated. We come across tragedies, such as that of a 19-year-old model Bethaney Wallace, who never believed she was attractive enough for the modelling world and died of anorexia on the 18th of April 2012. We are certain raising awareness about the disease is vital”.

Meetville, a leading mobile dating service, regularly conducts research among its users. Millions of people from the U.S., Canada, Britain and Australia answer hundreds of questions every month. You can find the results of the poll here. If you are interested in research on a particular topic, please contact us. Any reprint of the material should be followed by clickable links to the survey.