According to ANRED (Anorexia Nervosa and Related Eating Disorders, Inc.), about 10% of people with the eating disorders anorexia and bulimia are male. Although anorexia nervosa - a disorder that's characterized by an obsession with food, thinness, and extreme weight loss - doesn't occur as often in boys, males with the condition have a distorted body image just like their female counterparts. Boys with anorexia may be dissatisfied with their bodies, even after losing weight, and may believe certain body parts are bigger than they really are. Researchers from a university hospital clinic in Barcelona, Spain, looked at body image in teen boys with anorexia compared with that of boys without eating disorders.
During the first week of treatment for anorexia nervosa, 30 11- to 18-year-old boys answered questions about their eating habits and behaviors. The boys noted whether they felt like they needed to be thin, whether they ever vomited to lose weight, whether they avoided certain foods because of a fear it would make them fat, whether they thought about calories as they ate and exercised, and whether they were dissatisfied with their bodies. The teen boys also estimated the sizes of different parts of their bodies, including their shoulders, chest and torso, waist, hips, thighs, and calves. Researchers compared the results of the boys with anorexia to the results of 421 boys of the same age who didn't have eating disorders.
The boys with anorexia tended to be more dissatisfied with their bodies. They also reported more troublesome eating attitudes, like feeling guilty after eating, avoiding eating when hungry, and feeling like food controlled their lives, compared to boys who didn't have eating disorders. Both boys who had eating disorders and those who didn't overestimated the sizes of all parts of their bodies, but teen boys with eating disorders overestimated the size of their shoulders and thighs more than the boys without eating disorders.
What This Means to You: Teen boys with anorexia tend to overestimate the size of some body parts, a problem that's related to distorted body image and their abnormal attitudes about eating. If a teen won't maintain a normal body weight for height and age, is terrified of becoming fat, and says he or she feels fat even when he or she is not, these could be signs of an eating disorder. If you suspect your child may have an eating disorder or a body image problem, talk to your child's doctor.
Source: Araceli Gila, PhD; Josefina Castro, MD; Jose Cesena, PhD; Josep Toro, MD; Journal of Adolescent Health, March 2005
Reviewed by: Steven Dowshen, MD
Date reviewed: March 2005
