Adolescence is a critical time in life. 

The following excerpts provide you with some of the challenges they encounter. These excerpts are provided from the dissertation (2005) of Nilda I. Kernion, PhD.

In our everyday life, we are focused on details our corporeal existence, such as sleeping, washing, grooming, dressing, eating, dieting, exercising, and body maintenance (e.g., appearance, sexual attractiveness, and body shape) (Turner 1984).  Therefore, adolescents body weight perception and lifestyles are very important components in their lives.  The style of living that adolescents choose is centered to some extent around the way they perceive their body weight and their life chances as determined by statuses, such as gender, race and age.  In addition, body weight perception is a strong determinant of adolescents’ lifestyle as it pertains to their nutritional habits and weight management methods (Brener et al. 2004).

The following rationales describe some of the reasons for adolescent girls desire for being thin (Tiggemann, Gardiner, and Slater 2000):

To fulfill society demands, which are modeled by the media.
To be accepted by their peers (peer pressure).
To increase their self-esteem, confidence, and feelings of control. 
To be more attractive and receive more attention.
Interestingly enough, a study done by Tiggemann and associates (2000) did not find one of the reasons to be wanting to improve their health or prevent health problems, such as heart diseases, diabetes, and high blood pressure.

This pressure to be thin affects females of all ages. Rozin and Fallon (1988) found that mothers and daughters showed a great concern about weight and eating.  Females are constantly surrounded by the cult of thinness. (Hesse-Biber 1996).  By internalizing the Western cultural standard of beauty, women of all ages are more likely to feel dissatisfied about their bodies and appearance (Stormer and Thompson 196; Stice et al. 1994) and engage in strict diets and exercise routines to help them accomplish an ideal body.  As a result, adolescence in general is a time where image concerns are present; therefore, few differences are expected to emerge as one spans different grade levels.

Body Weight Perception

The body, a social product that is the only tangible manifestation of the ‘person’, is commonly perceived as the most natural expression of innermost nature (Bourdieu 1984: 192).

Adolescence is a period in which body weight becomes very important because it is part of their self-representation and self-evaluation (Cash and Deagle 1997).  Body weight serves as an avenue for adolescents to judge themselves, which in turn determines the level of satisfaction with their own physical appearance, including shape, size and general appearance (Cash and Deagle 1997). 

As a result, adolescents are constantly under a lot of pressure to achieve this ideal body.  Comparing their body weight with this ideal body may result in misperception of their bodies and inappropriate weight loss attempts (Channing 1985; Grogan 1999; Halvorson and Neuman 1983; Jantz 1995, Levenkrom 2000; Philips 1996; Thompson 1996).  This misperception of their bodies may lead adolescents to change their lifestyles to one that may involve excessive exercise routines, unnecessary strict diets, starvation, cosmetic plastic surgery, and anabolic steroid use to achieve an appearance that is socially acceptable (Banfield and McCabe 2002; Grogan 1999; Sabo and Gordon 1995). Engaging in these types of health practice can lead them to suffer from serious health consequences (Labre 2002). 

Adolescents are motivated to engage in certain lifestyles with the desire of looking and feeling good (Cockerham 2000).  The lifestyle choices that adolescents make can “not only provide self-identity but also promote a sense of stability and belonging for an individual by providing an anchor in a particular social constellation of style and activity” (Cockerham et al. 1997: 321). In this case, this style of living involves activities that include dieting and exercise routines that will help them achieve a better body appearance, so they feel good about themselves.  By engaging in this particular style of living, they will enhance their body appearance and physical condition.  For example, research by Middleman, Vazquez, and Durant (1998) that involved 3321 high school students from Massachusetts showed that hard exercise, stretching and toning were associated with trying to lose weight among female students and trying to gain weight among male students. 

Feelings of unattractiveness, inadequacy, ineffectiveness, and inferiority about their appearance and body competencies reinforce adolescents’ feelings of low self-esteem and lack of control and power, which may lead them to choose unhealthy lifestyles (e.g., extreme diets and exercise routines, fasting, taking diet pills, vomiting, and using laxatives or steroids) that will help them improve their body to feel better about themselves.  As a result, some adolescents will isolate themselves by retreating further into their homes to try to change their bodies to gain the power and control that they are lacking (Kearney-Cooke and Steinchen-Asch 1990). 

Summary

Adolescence can be one of the most stressful times in a person’s life (Thompson 1996a, 1996b). It is considered to be a critical time of transition when youths choices and behaviors will have consequences for future success and opportunity.  During this time, adolescents are responsible for becoming more independent and achieving a sense of identity that will position them on a career path and provide them with a set of values and beliefs that will guide their choice of activities and interpersonal relationships.  In addition, they are entering puberty, which can be a very emotional, stressful, confusing and frightening time (Thompson 1996a, 1996b).  As a result, this time of discovery can bring adolescents a lot of different anxieties about their sexual identity, physical appearance (body satisfaction), grades, peer acceptance, and ability to meet societal as well as family expectations. (Thompson 1996a, 1996b; White 1989).