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Risk factors
By Mayo Clinic staffCertain situations and events might increase the risk of developing an eating disorder. These risk factors may include:
- Gender. Teenage girls and young women are more likely than teenage boys and young men to have eating disorders.
- Age. Although eating disorders can occur across a broad age range — from preadolescents to older adults — they are much more common during the teens and early 20s.
- Family influences. People who feel less secure in their families, whose parents and siblings may be overly critical, or whose families tease them about their appearance are at higher risk of eating disorders.
- Emotional disorders. People with depression, anxiety disorders and obsessive-compulsive disorder are more likely to have an eating disorder.
- Dieting. People who lose weight are often reinforced by positive comments from others and by their changing appearance. This dieting may be taken too far and lead to an eating disorder.
- Transitions. Whether it's heading off to college, moving, landing a new job or a relationship breakup, change can bring emotional distress. One way to cope, especially in situations that may be out of someone's control, is to latch on to something that they can control, such as their eating patterns, which can eventually lead to an eating disorder if taken to an extreme.
- Sports, work and artistic activities. Athletes, actors and television personalities, dancers, and models are at higher risk of eating disorders. Eating disorders are particularly common among ballerinas, gymnasts, runners and wrestlers. Coaches and parents may unwittingly contribute to eating disorders by encouraging young athletes to lose weight.
- Media and society. The media, such as television and fashion magazines, frequently focus on body shape and size. Exposure to these images may lead some people to believe that thinness equates to success and popularity.
