A recent survey of over 500 teenagers conducted by Sugar Magazine revealed that daughters of mothers who diet are two times more prone to developing an eating disorder. Out of the teenage girls included, nearly 6% had an eating disorder at the average age of 14. This number rose to 10% for girls who were aware that their mothers were dieting.
Almost 4 out of every 10 young women admitted that their mothers acted as a definite influence on their self perception, while nearly two thirds had, over the years, heard their mothers complain relentlessly about their own weight.
"Every single issue of Sugar magazine features fashion modeled by 'regular' girls, with difference body sizes and shapes, to prove all bodies are gorgeous when they're well fed and exercised. But it stands to reason that a girl's 'thinheritance' - the attitude to food and body-shape she is exposed to day-after-day in her home - is going to be more powerful than anything we can print in a magazine", shared Annabel Brog, editor of Sugar.
If survey figures are to be believed, 51% of the girls who participated admitted to dieting most of the time, while almost 8 out of every 10 were constantly worried about their current weight. An ugly, shocking truth that was revealed by the Sugar survey was that every 1 in 5 girls admitted to have been criticized by family members about their weight. Also, nearly 1 in 3 young women revealed that they had been called derogatory names like "elephant" and "beast" by some relative.
