Pre-Adolescent Dieting: Implications for Eating Disorders

Dieting is practised by a large proportion of women in the developed world. Considerations of thinness and overweight promote dieting and its popular appeal is enhanced by the variety and availability of dieting strategies. However, dieting is not a benign practice. The importance of dieting to eating disorders has been recognized in studies of adolescent girls. The focus of the present review is the emergence of dieting in younger age groups. The available research indicates the presence of significant numbers of pre-adolescent girls who both express strong dieting motivation and behave accordingly. In addition, considerations of body weight and shape appear to underlie the dieting motivation of girls as young as nine. The extremely negative views of overweight held by children almost certainly contributes to the appeal of dieting. The presence of dieting and accompanying body weight and shape dissatisfaction increases the proportion of girls at risk of becoming eating disordered. Attention should be paid to ways of reducing pre-adolescent girls' desire for an unphysiological body weight and shape.