What are both the commonalities among males and females who have eating disorders, as well as the differences each have regarding body ideals?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

There is increased recognition that eating disorders are more common among young men than was originally believed. Males also are subjected to powerful media images, although perhaps not to the same extent as females. The increasingly muscular male body ideal may be contributing to body dissatisfaction, disordered eating, and harmful weight-control or body-building behaviors (Smolak & Stein, 2010). Young men with eating disorders show some of the same clinical features as young women with eating disorders. However, young men show less of a preoccupation with food or a drive for thinness; rather, they want to be more muscular than they actually are and more muscular than the average male body (Olivardia et al., 2004). In addition, young men and boys are more likely to engage in excessive exercising and overeating, whereas young women and girls are more likely to engage in purging behaviors, to report loss of control while eating, and to try to reduce their caloric intake (von Ranson & Wallace, 2014).