Imagine a teen girl posting a selfie on social media. She likes the picture because she is smiling and the sun is shining nicely. Later that day, she read primarily positive comments, but one person posted a negative comment about her being fat. How might that affect an adolescent who is already feeling vulnerable.

Similar scenes of body shaming play out in the lives of adolescents trying to navigate cultural understandings of beauty, pressure from peers to fit in, and constant images of perfect bodies shown on TV and in movies. Social media, because it is so ubiquitous, can be particularly hurtful. These pressures can combine with biological and psychological factors to promote an adolescent's negative body image, purging and fasting behavior, or even an eating disorder.

Examine the occurrence of eating disorders and consider approaches to address them in adolescents.

• Describe the role of peer relationships on the development of feeding and eating disorders in adolescence.
• Describe the role of social media and body shaming on adolescent feeding and eating disorders.
• Identify one website addressing the phenomenon of pro-anorexia and describe the content (provide the webpage URL). Why might adolescents be drawn to this perspective.
• Describe the biological, psychological, and social effects of feeding and eating disorders in adolescence.
• Identify and explain a theoretical model for working with adolescents experiencing feeding and eating disorders.
• Describe two approaches you might find helpful in addressing adolescent feeding and eating disorders.

Please include references.