Ten Per Cent of 13 Year Old Girls ‘Terrified’ About Putting on Weight

Ten Per Cent of 13 Year Old Girls ‘Terrified’ About Putting on Weight: The first UK-wide study designed to identify signs of eating disorders has suggested that 10% of 13 year old girls are ‘terrified’ about putting on weight. The high level of worry about eating and weight at the age of 13, which is several years before eating disorders typically start to show symptoms, was a finding which Doctors found alarming. However, they did say that identifying this issue early could help to stop any issues developing in to fully fledged eating disorders.

The research, which has been published in the Journal of Adolescent Health, included interviews with parents of 7,082 13 year old children. Health professionals have stated that eating disorders, such as anorexia and bulimia, tend to start in the mid-teenage years, although in rare cases they have started earlier. The findings included:

Ten Per Cent of 13 Year Old Girls ‘Terrified’ About Putting on Weight_VoicED Community

Ten Per Cent of 13 Year Old Girls ‘Terrified’ About Putting on Weight
Image: Myriam Sanchez Foseca via Wikimedia Commons

  • Nearly 12% of girls and 5% of boys were ‘terrified’ of getting fat
  • More than half (52%) of girls and a third of boys were ‘a little worried’ about getting fat
  • One in three girls and one in five boys were ‘distressed’ by their own body shape
  • More than a quarter (26%) and 15% of boys had ‘eating disorder behaviours’ – including fasting for instance

The research also linked some issues, such as uncontrolled binge eating, to higher weights two years later.

Dr Nadia Micali, who worked as a researcher on the project said she was surprised that children were so worried at such a young age, and that she regrets not asking younger children in order to try and understand at what age these worries first begin to come to light. As a positive, she said that following the research, which was conducted by University College London and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, there may be an opportunity to develop a set of warning signs for parents and teachers so that any tendency towards eating disorders can be dealt with early on.

These findings, which identify issues at a far younger age, come only a few months after research suggested that many students with eating disorders are not diagnosed until they attend university. A survey of 200 students found that a third (32%) were not diagnosed until they reached higher education. In addition, more than half of those students (52%) said their university was not doing enough to aid individuals with eating disorders, and 18% had been forced to drop out of their degree course.

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