Caroline Magill

English Comp II

Professor Tyler

19 March, 2021

Literature Review

How has the pandemic affected eating disorders in teens and young adults? Over the

last year, people all over the world have spent a significant more amount of time alone than

ever before. The Covid-19 pandemic regulations have pushed all of us into a lot of alone time,

and for many people, the pandemic has pushed them deeper into mental health issues. For

teens and young adults, not being at school with their friends and teachers has really taken a

toll on their mental health. Especially at the very beginning, they weren’t getting very much

face to face interactions and that can be a very depressing thing for younger people.

For the last fifty years, anorexia, one type of eating disorder, has had the second

highest mortality rate of any psychiatric disorder. Eating disorders have been around for years

and years but especially in the last year they have become much more prevalent.

Social media, which is mainly used by teenagers and young adults, is a huge factor in

the way that the teenagers and young adults see themselves. The Missouri Eating Disorder

Association says that “more than seventy percent of Americans engage on some type of social

media platform”. For the past decade or so, the societal norm for teenage girls, was to have a

skinny body. Because of social media becoming so popular, skinny models with long legs and

zero stomach fat is all that these girls have seen. Anorexia and bulimia has become a common

thing for younger girls to fall into because they want to look like what social media portrays
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as the “perfect girl”. Dr. Sarah Garcz explains that “social media use allows for easy

comparison, especially in a culture where self-confidence is heavily weighted on appearance

and body types are often compared” and “that social comparison can be pervasive and with

other precipitating or predisposing factors, social media can be detrimental”.

The pandemic has caused a lot of stress, anxiety, and depression for a lot of people.

Eating is a way that a lot of people have tried to cope with all of the negative mental health

that they have faced. Which can lead to binge eating. The Eating Disorder Foundation

describes Binge-eating is a psychiatric condition where the person eats abnormally large

portions of food and has an extreme lack of self-control .

In the last year, social media platforms such as Tiktok and Instagram have become

even more popular than they were before the pandemic. While the stay at home orders were in

effect around the world, social media platforms such as these, became ways for people to fill

their time. Spending even more time on these platforms that already had such a standard to

beauty, was another factor to why eating disorder numbers have risen so high. Dr. Sarah

Gracz explains that “

Although, in the last year, positive body image and mindsets have become a huge topic

of conversation. While there is still a lot of negativity through out social media, there is a lot

more positivity being spread around. The pandemic has helped to bring people together when

they can’t be together physically. Social media has given people a space to talk to others that

relate to them and their mental health. King University Online said “Recently, the

organization Eating Disorder Hope detailed how social media can potentially benefit the way

women feel about their body image. They said the landscape of body positivity on the internet

has created a more understanding and inclusive space for all body types”.

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Full circle back to social media being negative to mental health. More people notice

that they have symptoms and signs of eating disorders. This can be looked at as a good or a

bad thing. King University Online also talked about how Beth Daley, “reported on research

she’d recently conducted on body positivity and social media. The study found that brief

exposure to body-positive Instagram posts resulted in improved body image and mood  in

young women, compared to idealized and appearance-neutral posts.” At the same time,

though, Daley also discovered the surveyed women thought about their bodies more in

general. In other words, body positivity-oriented posts could boost women’s self-esteem, but

the content would also put women into a position of thinking about their physical appearance

even more”.
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Works Cited

Castellini, Giovanni, et al. “The Impact of COVID‐19 Epidemic on Eating Disorders: A

Longitudinal Observation of Pre versus Post Psychopathological Features in a Sample of

Patients with Eating Disorders and a Group of Healthy Controls.” EBSCOhost, 2020,

eds.a.ebscohost.com/eds/detail/detail?vid=1&sid=4ec4d93d-f431-4e32-b2de-

4d99b9750ec1%40sdc-v-sessmgr01&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU

%3d#AN=146976622&db=fsr.

“About Eating Disorders.” Eating Disorder Foundation.org, 2021,

eatingdisorderfoundation.org/learn-more/about-eating-disorders/contributing-factors/.

“About Eating Disorders.” Eating Disorder Foundation.org, 2021,

eatingdisorderfoundation.org/learn-more/about-eating-disorders/facts/.

Castellini, Giovanni, et al. “The Impact of COVID ‐19 Epidemic on Eating Disorders: A

Longitudinal Observation of Pre versus Post Psychopathological Features in a Sample of

Patients with Eating Disorders and a Group of Healthy Controls.” International Journal of

Eating Disorders, vol. 53, no. 11, 2020, pp. 1855–1862., doi:10.1002/eat.23368.

Gracz, Sarah. Effects of Social Media on Body Image and Eating Disorders,

MOEatingDisorders.org, 2021, moeatingdisorders.org/content/effects-social-media-body-

image-and-eating-disorders.

“Link Between Social Media & Body Image.” King University Online, King University Online ,

2019, online.king.edu/news/social-media-and-body-image/#:~:text=Recently%2C%20the

%20organization%20Eating%20Disorder,feel%20about%20their%20body
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%20image.&text=The%20study%20%E2%80%9Cfound%20that%20brief,and

%20appearance%2Dneutral%20posts.%E2%80%9D.

Noguchi, Yuki. “Eating Disorders Thrive In Anxious Times, And Pose A Lethal Threat.” NPR,

NPR, 8 Sept. 2020, 5:00AM, www.npr.org/sections/health-

shots/2020/09/08/908994616/eating-disorders-thrive-in-anxious-times-and-pose-a-lethal-

threat.

TEAM, SINGLECARE. “Eating Disorder Statistics in the U.S. in 2021.” The Checkup,

SingleCare Administrators , 21 Jan. 2021, www.singlecare.com/blog/news/eating-disorder-

statistics/.

Teitelbaum , Izzy. “Pandemic a Tough Test for Students Managing Eating Disorders.” U.S.

News & World Report, U.S. News & World Report, 2021, www.usnews.com/news/best-

states/minnesota/articles/2021-02-22/pandemic-a-tough-test-for-students-managing-eating-

disorders.