Media Literacy Approaches to Prevention

Sociocultural and psychosocial factors are variable – and thus potentially reversible – risk factors in the development of anorexia nervosa (AN), bulimia nervosa (BN), and other eating disorders (Levine and Smolak 2006; see Diedrichs’ entry on “▶Sociocultural Environment”). Interviews, cross-sectional survey studies, longitudinal investigations, and various types of laboratory and field experiments all point to specific media, peer (see Paxton’s entry on “▶Peer Interactions and Relationships”), and family variables as contributors to the following specific aspects of the nervosa in eating disorders: