Body image concerns and disordered eating patterns significantly impact the physical and mental health of young Australians.
Analyse the protective factors that can prevent these issues and the skills and actions that young people can develop to promote positive body image and healthy eating behaviours. (8 marks)
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ANSWER STYLE #1: General Points to use within student-chosen answer structure
*Recommended words/phrases to convey relationships and implications are bolded.
Overview Statement
- Protective factors including support networks, health literacy, and critical thinking skills can shape and reinforce personal actions to help prevent body image issues.
- These factors influence young people’s relationships with food and body image through multiple pathways.
Support Networks and Health Literacy
- Strong family support in combination with accurate nutritional knowledge helps foster a strong protection against disordered eating.
- This reveals that emotional support combined with factual information prevents harmful diet trends
- In this way, relationships and knowledge work together to build realistic body perspectives.
- This means that protection requires both emotional and educational components.
Critical Thinking and Personal Actions
- Media literacy skills directly influence young people’s ability to set health-focused goals.
- This works by teaching young people to spot fake images, which empowers them to reject unhealthy weight-loss goals.
- Young people who critically analyse advertising tactics develop wellbeing goals that prioritise energy and fitness. This is a clear illustration of critical thinking transforming into positive health behaviours.
- As a consequence, understanding media manipulation promotes sustainable lifestyle choices over quick fixes.
Implications and Synthesis
- These protective factors form an integrated defence system against body image issues.
- This analysis indicates that skills development must combine with supportive environments to be most effective.
- Consequently, when schools and families are dealing with issues of body image and eating disorders, they must combine both education and emotional support.
- The significance is that isolated interventions fail while comprehensive strategies can create lasting protection.
ANSWER STYLE #2: Highly structured (PEEL)
*PEEL – Solution is structured using an adjusted PEEL method; [P] Identify components and their relationship, [E] explain the interaction/influence between them, [Ev] provide evidence showing the relationship in action, [L] linking sentence back to question.
- [P] Personal support networks and critical thinking skills combine to protect against body image issues.
- [E] The relationship between family support and media literacy creates multiple defence layers against harmful messages.
- [Ev] Young people with strong family connections who also possess media analysis skills are at much less risk of developing eating disorders.
- [L] This interaction demonstrates how protective factors work together to prevent body image concerns.
- [P] Health knowledge and assertiveness skills work together to help young people make informed food choices.
- [E] Access to dietitian advice directly influences young people’s ability to resist harmful diet trends on social media.
- Ev] Teens who consult qualified professionals develop confidence to challenge peer pressure about restrictive eating.
- [L] These elements working together enable young people to maintain healthy eating behaviours despite external pressures.
- [P] Individual resilience skills and community advocacy create a reinforcing cycle of positive body image.
- [E] When confident individuals take action, they can change the attitudes of those around them.
- [Ev] Students who promote body diversity at school feel better about themselves while helping classmates accept different body types.
- [L] This relationship reveals how personal skills translate into broader protective environments.
- [P] Goal-setting focused on wellbeing rather than weight operates on multiple levels of protection.
- [E] Health-focused objectives promote action and influence psychological attitudes.
- [Ev] For example, young people pursuing fitness goals experience improved mental health regardless of body shape changes.
- [L] Together, these protective factors and skills and actions determine long-term resilience against disordered eating patterns.
Show Worked Solution
*Recommended words/phrases to convey relationships and implications are bolded.
Overview Statement
- Protective factors including support networks, health literacy, and critical thinking skills can shape and reinforce personal actions to help prevent body image issues.
- These factors influence young people’s relationships with food and body image through multiple pathways.
Support Networks and Health Literacy
- Strong family support in combination with accurate nutritional knowledge helps foster a strong protection against disordered eating.
- This reveals that emotional support combined with factual information prevents harmful diet trends
- In this way, relationships and knowledge work together to build realistic body perspectives.
- This means that protection requires both emotional and educational components.
Critical Thinking and Personal Actions
- Media literacy skills directly influence young people’s ability to set health-focused goals.
- This works by teaching young people to spot fake images, which empowers them to reject unhealthy weight-loss goals.
- Young people who critically analyse advertising tactics develop wellbeing goals that prioritise energy and fitness. This is a clear illustration of critical thinking transforming into positive health behaviours.
- As a consequence, understanding media manipulation promotes sustainable lifestyle choices over quick fixes.
Implications and Synthesis
- These protective factors form an integrated defence system against body image issues.
- This analysis indicates that skills development must combine with supportive environments to be most effective.
- Consequently, when schools and families are dealing with issues of body image and eating disorders, they must combine both education and emotional support.
- The significance is that isolated interventions fail while comprehensive strategies can create lasting protection.