A happy home environment can help your child develop a sense of inner control. and a positive sense of self that will equip them to avoid eating disorders. Teen body image refers to how teens perceive their bodies.
It includes their feelings about their body and how they care for it, and it is an essential part of adolescent development. Body image is also closely linked to self-esteem, in large part because society and the media place a lot of importance on our appearance. This focus on appearance contributes to body image issues in adolescents and eating disorders they may have.
Internal vs external control
A major challenge teens face is internal versus external control. This means the extent to which a person believes they have power over events in their lives. A person with internal control believes that they can influence events and their results, while a person with external control blames external forces for everything and seeks external approval and validation to feel good about himself.
A healthy and confident child will learn to have good internal control, but if they are raised in a home where there is instability and chaos and, sometimes, lack of security, they can learn to fall into external control, generating serious self-esteem problems.
Adolescents experience increased school and social pressures at a time when significant changes are taking place in their bodies. Therefore, if they have not learned to believe in their own resources for coping in life, they will focus on what other people expect or think of them, rather than how they feel about themselves. Eventually, everything they decide to do in their lives depends on the assumptions they make about how they will be perceived by others. Body image also plays a role in this. 95% of people with eating disorders are between the ages of 12 and 25.
The importance of feeling good in your own body
Adolescents tend to view the concept of 'middle road' as average and boring, and Western society reinforces this all-or-nothing thinking. This leads to beliefs like you must have the perfect body, you must go to college, and you must earn a lot of money to live in a big house and have a great car.
This is why body positivity is even more important. If we can make our society more thoughtful, teens with an external locus of control can be more realistic and self-accepting. With less stress and pressure, it's easier to hear your own voice and develop your own sense of self.
In this sense, it is important to be attentive to the unusual behaviors of adolescents and above all, to work on a good emotional education so that they are accepted as they are.