ucing a bloated look (Erlangler 62).Sports are one of the factors that lead to eating disorders. Gymnast and dancers have to maintain a small and skinny frame. Wrestlers also suffer from eating disorders. They try to maintain or loose weight to stay in a weight class. There are many other sports where athletes have eating disorders. Some examples are track, swimming, cross country, youth football and other weight class sports. According to a Sports Illustrated article in January 22 issue, a recent anonymous survey of college Division I athletes was taken. It included 883 males and 562 females, and revealed that fifty-eight percent of the women and thirty-eight percent of the men had eating disorders. “I think the whole issue of nutrition and eating patterns, it would be fair to say, is a major concern among athletes” stated the NCAA director of sports sciences.Peer pressure also has a major role in teen eating disorders. Today’s society calls for a woman to be real skinny and a man to be thin and strong. Family’s role in the development in eating disorders is a major one. The majority 3of teenagers with eating disorders come from a middle-class or an upper-class family (Claypool and Nelsen 46). Peers also put a major strain on being thin. Ever teenager wants to fit in the crowd. The models today also make the wrong impression on today’s youth. The average model ways less then the recommended body weight, by at least 10 percent (Earhart: interview).Low self-esteem causes many teens to be driven to eating disorders. Low self-esteem is when a person with an eating disorder can’t be happy with anything they do. They must be perfect and praised by other people (Epstein 77). Sports Illustrated wrote, “It’s more than wanting to be thin, it all boils down to low self-esteem”. Being overweight is hard to cope with in this day an age. Many teens get very depressed when they...
