Body image and eating disorders
Karen Kay
Anxiety over appearance on rise as over-70s struggle with stigma now
surrounding ageing
A growing number of older British people – including those in their
70s and 80s – are suffering from low self-esteem and anxieties relating
to body image.
Interviewed for the Observer Magazine this weekend, Professor Nichola
Rumsey, co-director of the University of the West of England's centre
for appearance research, suggests that “as adults, 90% of British women
feel body-image anxiety”.
She said: “It doesn't wane – many women in their 80s are still
anxious about the way their bodies look, which can even affect their
treatment in hospital when their health choices are influenced by
aesthetics.”
Popular opinion suggests that body image-related anxiety is a young
person's problem, with recent reports focusing on the age (five years
old) at which we are now vulnerable to pressures to conform to an
expected ideal. Constant media coverage of the debate on teenagers and
their negative relationship with their bodies has served to reinforce
the message that it is predominantly young people who suffer such
anxieties.
However, Rumsey's studies in Bristol counterbalance this with
evidence that these anxieties do not dissipate as the years pass, but
merely evolve into different types of concerns about appearance and how
we are seen by others.
“We have conducted a study of about 1,200 people, which confirms that
appearance-related anxieties persist well into later adulthood,” Rumsey
said. “At an age where most healthcare professionals focus on
controlling pain and body functionality, many patients feel the way they
look is as much of a concern, but isn't a legitimate topic of
conversation.
- The Guardian
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