Eating disorders: Summary of risk factors, prevention programming, and prevention research

More than 2 million female Americans have a clinically relevant eating diso rder. Although the prevalence and seriousness of this problem has gained in creasing attention in recent years, relatively little is known about eating disorder prevention This article addresses a number of issues related to p revention efforts applied to eating disorders. An overview of putative risk factors that have been identified is presented In particular the article e mphasizes the importance of understanding the psychological and physical de velopmental processes during adolescence and the sociocultural contest in w hich eating disorders develop. A sum,nary of empirical investigations of th e efficacy of eating disorder prevention programs follows, including an ill ustration of one of the more promising strategies that has been reported to date. The role of counseling psychologists in further refining eating diso rder prevention efforts is discussed.