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Who Is At Risk?
- Studies have shown that eating disorders are most common in white, middle-class or
upper-class females. They are more common in families that emphasise weight control and
in families whose members have a history of eating disorders or alcohol or other drug abuse.
- Women who are vulnerable are often described as high achievers; they are the
perfectionists who set unrealistically high standards for themselves. These women may
feel depressed and unsatisfied if they do not achieve their goals. The end results are
low self-esteem and a sense of failure. Paradoxically, to others they seem to be very
successful and to have all the ingredients for happiness. If these women are concerned
with weight, they may turn to rigid and possibly harmful dieting and exercising in an
effort to achieve unrealistic thinness or perceived perfection.
- Some men as well as women with compulsive personalities are also more likely to
develop an eating disorder, as are people who have poor social skills, difficulty with
their sexual identity, and underlying depression.
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