*The research conducted at the University of Haifa shows that mothers who participated together with their daughters in an intervention program to prevent eating disorders improved the daughters' ability to succeed. "These findings strengthen the significant role of mothers in establishing the body image of their daughters through personal example and imitation," said Dr. Zohar Spivak-Lavie from the University of Haifa who conducted the study *
Mothers who participate together with their daughters in an eating disorder prevention program improve the daughters' chances of significantly reducing the risk of developing an eating disorder, according to a new study conducted at the University of Haifa. "This finding is innovative and has a great contribution regarding the prevention of eating disorders among teenagers," said Dr. Zohar Spivak-Lavi, who conducted the study.
Eating disorders and pathology related to eating are a set of thoughts and behaviors, which represent the range of symptoms related to body image disorders, up to the development of anorexia and bulimia nervosa. According to the researcher, although there are many intervention programs to help young girls deal with eating disorders, to date no uniform line has been found that would outline characteristics for the success of one intervention program or another, and in most cases the programs focused on expanding knowledge, but no long-term behavioral change was achieved.
In the current study, which is based on the doctoral thesis of Dr. Spivak-Lavi under the supervision of Prof. Yael Letzer and Prof. Ruth Katz and Dr. Zohar Spivak-Lavi, from the Faculty of Social and Health Sciences at the University of Haifa, the researcher asked to check whether active integration of the mothers of the young girls can to bring about the desired success. 118 70th grade girls participated in the study, including 35 subjects in the research group, of which 35 with their verifications and 35 without their verifications. The intervention plan for the prevention of eating disorders was delivered to all female students, with XNUMX of them also delivered the plan for their verification. Questionnaires were sent to the subjects at three different time points: before the start of the prevention program, upon completion of the program and about six months after the completion of the program.
The results of the study show that the girls who participated in the program together with their verifications showed a decrease in pathological behaviors related to eating: they had higher self-esteem, they expressed more satisfaction with their bodies and the dieting behaviors and other eating disorders were more moderate, compared to the girls who went through the program without their verifications.
The researcher even found that an increase in the level of self-esteem of the girls helped to reduce pathological behaviors only among the girls who underwent the intervention with their verifications, while a similar increase in the level of self-esteem among the girls of the second group was not associated with a positive change.
But just as mothers had a positive role, they could also have a negative effect. The more the mothers dealt with issues related to diet, including active diets, the mother's comments about her own weight or the weight of her household and engaging in sports with the goal of losing weight, the more the girls showed lower body satisfaction and their dieting behavior and eating disorders were more pathological. According to the researcher, parents are the main socializing agents for their children in all areas of life, and they certainly have an influence on abnormal attitudes and behaviors regarding eating and weight. "Mothers naturally form the significant identification model for their daughters as part of the daughter's identification process with her mother. When parents adopt messages that encourage slimness, their children are expected to adopt similar attitudes and behaviors, in childhood and even in adolescence," she noted.
"It is very important for mothers to participate in programs to prevent eating, at the same time as their daughters and not separately from them. This is in order to achieve a change for the better in the daughter's pathological behaviors and not just a change in pathological attitudes", Dr. Spivak-Lavi concluded.
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bee
I have to ask: are you serious? This seems to me like a sarcastic comment about how not to behave. This reminds me that I was once supposed to go abroad with my husband (now ex) for his postdoctoral research and my sister was jealous so my parents told her that "one day she too will find someone with whom she can travel abroad" I always tell people this story as a joke About how the past generation thinks. By the way, in the end my sister really went abroad for a few years for her own postdoctorate without anyone.
Please tell me you're laughing or I'll be very sad.
It's a shame you didn't bother to let them know about the option of being a good student, acquiring a higher education and engaging in a profession that will allow them to live and make a living on their own
Full disclosure I have 2 daughters
Mothers play a very important role in shaping the body culture of their daughters.
As a mother of 3 girls, I have always entrusted to explain to them, from a young age, that their body is their most important asset.
If they don't look good, they won't find a good husband and they will be wretched.
When they gained weight I always reminded them and explained to them that they are not animals but women who should be thin and attractive.
Putting a girl on a diet is the duty of the mother and it should be started at the age of 11-12 when the girl is developing so that there will be no problems with her later and she will gain weight.
Not everything is enforcement interference and following simple rules is a clear parental obligation (not eating near men, not eating oil or dough, making sure not to exceed 1,200-1,500 calories a day, exercising at least an hour a day and all that).
Thanks to me, my eldest married a high-tech man who earns well and allows her a good life, the middle one has a rich boyfriend who pampers her and the youngest in high school has a promising future like her sisters.
her daughter
If you think that a very thin woman is attractive to a man, then you are very wrong.
Maybe it's worth examining first what happens with the fathers, and who is really responsible, in the first place, for these eating disorders. When you sit in public places, such as: a restaurant, cinema, etc. and grown men drool and grunt with pleasure at the sight of every little thing that passes by, so that they won't be surprised later that their daughters stop eating to please, first of all, in the eyes of the father himself.
And this is also one of the reasons that mothers - women embark on a journey of weight loss.
You can open endless programs, but if you don't solve the beginning of the problem - nothing will come out of the program.