What are some causes of eating disorders?
Registered dietitian, family therapist and internationally recognized authority on eating and feeding, Ellyn Satter recommends that when children are small, parents and caregivers should decide what a child eats, and when they do so, and children should choose how much they eat. This approach can help children explore their likes and dislikes and learn about cues for hunger and fullness. Children innately eat when they’re hungry and stop when they’re full, and parents and caregivers should take their lead. She also suggests that “food neutrality” is adopted, where there is no “good” or “bad” food, but rather a range of nutritious options is made available.
Unfortunately, eating problems do develop for some children and young people. There’s no straightforward cause for why this happens in some and not others. There is a range of biological, genetic, social, and psychological factors that can account for the emergence of an eating disorder. These tend to interact with each other, shift and change over time, and look different in each child or young person.
For example, some children or youth might have a family history of an eating disorder, which could suggest a genetic vulnerability to developing this type of condition. There are also links between eating disorders and different mental health or psychological problems like depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, self-harm and suicidality. Other risk factors can include low self-esteem, perfectionism, being stigmatized because of weight (either too heavy or too thin) and general body dissatisfaction.
There are a host of socio-cultural factors that contribute to the development of eating concerns. For example:
- Children and young people continue to grow up in a “diet culture” that values thinner, smaller bodies and normalizes food restriction as a way of being “healthy.”
- We live in a time when “gym culture” or “fitness culture” has exploded. This involves constantly pushing yourself to improve your body, tracking workouts, and counting calories for weight loss. There are a shocking number of social media sites, calorie-counting apps, books, videos, etc., accessible to young people that perpetuate the flawed belief that being tiny and constantly striving for the perfect body equals health.
- Being “white and skinny” is a big part of diet and gym/fitness cultures, which is particularly problematic for children and youth who are Black, Indigenous, racialized, or have diverse identities or genders.