Eating disorders and ideal of feminine beauty in italian newspaper and magazines.

In this study the authors analyse the content of 347 articles (on eating disorders, nutrition, fitness, beauty and body care, cosmetic surgery, and fashion models) issued in national newspapers and magazines over the 1985-1995 decade. The results show: (a) an agreement between the information released by the media and scientific reports on clinical symptoms and sociocultural cause of eating disorders; (b) the press' tendency not to present anorexia and bulimia nervosa as 'true mental disorders'; (c) the media's tendency to show an increase of frequency of eating disorders, to put the blame on parents and to propose single treatments; (d) the diffusion of an ideal of feminine beauty that is impossible to attain for the average woman, and the presence of strategies proposed to achieve this beauty ideal.