Anorexia nervosa is characterized by refusal to maintain a minimally normal body weight, profound fear of weight gain, body image disturbance, and amenorrhea. Bulimia nervosa involves recurrent episodes of binge eating accompanied by compensatory mechanisms and self-esteem significantly influenced by one's weight and shape. Compensatory mechanisms include self-induced vomiting, laxative abuse, excessive exercise, and fasting. These disorders usually begin during adolescence with the majority of the cases developing before the age of twenty-five (Dickinson, 154).

The media has always influenced fashion and body shape. During the 1920's, thin women were briefly in style, but their popularity was taken over

Developmental stages and life transitions have important significance in the onset of eating disorders. Eating disorders are thought to come from difficulty in adapting to developmental challenges. Body image dissatisfaction, increased concerns about eating, and problematic eating behaviors appear to coincide with the developmental changes associated with puberty. Normal development during this period involves a number of difficult tasks, including forming peer relationships, beginning to date, gaining increased autonomy from the family, and developing an independent sense of identity. Furthermore, this is a period of time in which the female body experiences increased adipose tissue and other biological changes that are associated with puberty.

by images like Mae West, Jean Harlow, Rita Hayworth and Marilyn Monroe. In the 1960's, model Twiggy helped to bring in the next era of thin. This era has not yet ended. Today the average model is five-foot-11 and weighs 117 pounds. On the other hand, the average North American woman is five-foot-four and weighs 140 pounds (Underwood, 36).

Successful prevention efforts require knowledge of the initial process of the disorder. The development of an eating disorder is best conceptualized as a multifacotorial process for which many factors have been identified. These factors are sociocultural, developmental, psychological, environmental, familial, and biological (Segall, 22).

Most of the research on identification of risk factors for eating disorders has been based on studies of adolescents. However, research conducted on college campuses suggests that many women with subclinical levels of eating disturbance upon entering college later develop diagnosable eating disorders. In particular, dieting at the beginning of freshman year was found to be the best predictor of bulimic behavior at the end of the first year of college. Increased in academic demands and other significant transitions in life circumstances or relationships all have been associated with the onset of eating disorders. Therefore, going through adolescence and shifting to demands of early adulthood signify periods of particularly inc

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