This article examines the prevalence and consequences of body dissatisfaction among adolescent boys and girls and discusses the role of body dissatisfaction in psychological disorders, including depression and eating disorders. Additionally, it explores predictors of the development of body dissatisfaction, including individual, familial, peer,…

What exactly is perfect? Students describe perfection as a combination of characteristics valued by their peer culture: intelligence, thin and fit physical appearance, social poise. As students chug through their daily lives--morning classes, organization meetings, club sports practice or the gym, dinner, another class, more meetings, library,…

The pressures on young athletes today, many of them brought on or exacerbated by parents, drive young athletes to attain perfection and win by any means necessary. For the young athlete, the challenges of learning how to balance schoolwork, social life, family time, and sports, not to mention other interests they might have, are far more intense…

Traditionally the identification of, and treatment for, eating disorders has been based on developmental psychopathology theory and research, thereby emphasizing risk factors and the elimination of maladaptive behaviors. This article seeks to reconceptualize the prevention of, and protective factors for, eating disordered behavior from the…