Do very thin female celebrities in the media cause eating disorders among adolescent girls?

Thesis:
Adolescent girls learn how to behave by observing others, especially their role models. This idea of social learning correlates to the increase in acceptance by teen girls to have eating disorders in order to model themselves after very thin female celebrities.

Support for my argument was found in a variety of places. From our class book I found the following, “. “At first, the women in magazine photographs had roughly the same body shape as the general population. By the 1960’s, the average model in a fashion magazine was around 10% thinner than the average woman; by the 1990’s, models were 30% thinner than the average, which placed many of them in the anorexic range.” Another bit of research I found in the Rodman book stated, “Even the recent ‘superwoman’ image of a woman who has status, accomplishment, and independence still needs to stress her physical attributes, especially how thin she is.”

I also documented a recent controversial Hollywood story surrounding the eating disorder of the “Full House” T.V. star Mary-Kate Olsen. Before her family announced that she was going into treatment for having an eating disorder her fans had noticed photos of her with “stick legs and sharp shoulder blades.” People magazine says, “What's most surprising is that, to some fans, those photos weren't alarming, but inspiring. "I admire her," wrote one 19-year-old girl about Mary-Kate's increasingly gaunt appearance on a teen Web site's message board devoted to eating disorders. The girl had cut out the skinniest pictures of Mary-Kate, she wrote, "and pasted them in my journal, because that is what I am striving to look like." The article goes on to say, “Mary-Kate "epitomized the perfect 18-year-old," says Dr. Allyson Cherkasky, clinical director of eating-disorder services at Walden Behavioral Care in Waltham, Mass. "She's very thin and very beautiful and represented having it all." real life situation regarding a very thin celebrity girl to help validate my argument.

People magazine article:

http://0-web.ebscohost.com.janus.uoregon.edu/ehost/detail?vid=7&hid=117&sid=f20e3a9f-7184-440d-985a-34a123cf734b%40sessionmgr102&bdata=JmxvZ2lucGFnZT1sb2dpbi5hc3Amc2l0ZT1laG9zdC1saXZlJnNjb3BlPXNpdGU%3d - db=aph&AN=13809743

Article about how girls with eating disorders are getting younger

http://0-www.lexisnexis.com.janus.uoregon.edu/us/lnacademic/search/homesubmitForm.do