For students coming into school daily, navigating body image issues, or worrying about flaws in one’s appearance can be a challenge. For junior Kait Hood, feeling insecure has been an issue for a long time.
“Everyone is insecure about something, even if they’re not open about it,” Hood said. “I’ve always had my issues. I mean, one will get better and another shows up, or they all just come at once. So it is constantly changing.”
According to Everyday Health, 73% of teen girls are self conscious, and 69% of teen boys are self conscious. Michigan Health specifies that this insecurity mostly manifests due to skin and weight problems.
Similarly, what students wear can be affected by their body image. For junior Gabe Sommerfeld, he alters what he wears out because of how he feels about his body.
“I feel like I’m a lot more concerned with what I wear,” Sommerfeld said. “I feel like I want to wear something that’s not gonna show off a lot because I don’t really like what’s underneath.”
Stem4, a teen mental health center, states that nearly 50% of young people (ages 12-21) feel that if they don’t improve their body, people will dislike them. Sommerfield explains how some students might try to improve their bodies in an unhealthy way.
“I feel like everybody now just tries to go to the gym and work out a bunch and then do a bunch of cardio,” Sommerfield said. “Some of them overdo it and then they end up failing, going back, and just eating a bunch of junk food and doing that again.”
Senior Moon Coulter explains how they used to deal with their insecurities in an unhealthy way.
“I pretty much wouldn’t ever eat,” Coulter said. “If I was forced to, I would eat pretty much as little as I possibly could. I would just say that I got full, because I didn’t eat much at the time anyway, and so during school I would just skip lunch entirely.”
Fifty one percent of Americans view a stigma around topics like body image, according to Meridan. Freshman Gwen Ansell explains why she thinks her peers might not discuss body image.
“People don’t like to talk about [their body image,] so they’ll think, ‘I’m not going to talk about it, because that puts me out of the norm,’” Ansell said. “Even though it’s more likely that [body image] is a bigger issue with the people in our school.”
Stacy Miller, school psychologist, explains what she hopes for students’ body image.
“We all look different,” Miller said. “We’re all different body types, so I hope that as society we’re increasingly becoming more accepting of different body types.”
Social media being popular among teenagers has brought about another place for teenagers to find ways to compare their lives and their bodies. According to the Mental Health Foundation, 40% of young people said that social media has caused them to worry about their own body image.
Trends such as ‘what I eat in a day’ and ‘model workouts’ are on the rise and being seen by millions of teens every day. Hood has noticed that lifestyle influencers posting these often give viewers negative feelings about their own lives.
“[Influencers] set such unrealistic expectations, and you feel like you constantly have to try to measure up to that, and when you don’t, it leaves you feeling almost crippled,” Hood said.
The Mental Health Foundation also found following social media and influencers caused negative body image issues that in turn affected eating habits. Senior Joah Clark has seen eating habits become a result of social media.
“I feel like, especially eating disorders and this perfect lifestyle is so glamorized on social media,” Clark said. “It’s like, this is what I ate in a day, [and then it’s] just two strawberries. [It’s] like, that’s not true, you definitely pounded back a gallon of Nutella also.”
Social media sites such as TikTok and Instagram often show influencers promoting unrealistic lifestyles. Along with those videos many influencers post products they claim to help with some various insecurity. Ansel has found that influencers use social media to talk about seemingly random insecurities so that people buy a certain product.
“I think [body image issues are] really common, especially with the rise of social media. A lot of people will make up insecurities to sell their stuff,” Ansel said. “I saw one recently that [said], ‘Oh, you have peach fuzz, you need to buy the shaving from us so you can look more feminine.’ It’s largely for marketing.”
While social media often has negative effects, especially young people still struggling with body image, it is not all negative. Ansel has seen a lot of positivity as well.
“I see a lot of videos of alternative people who [say things like], ‘you don’t always have to look like everyone else.’’ Sometimes you don’t have to look exactly like everyone else,” Ansel said.
Having issues with self esteem can create a real impact on one’s everyday life and health. In a study led by the University of Delhi, it was found that there is a significantly strong relationship between one’s general self esteem or self worth and how they feel about their body. Sommerfeld explains how his body image affected his daily life.
“I just kind of felt down all the time,” Sommerfeld said. “I felt like I didn’t want to go out unless I was wearing really baggy clothing because I didn’t want to show off anything.”
Similarly, many students can feel their personality and temperament change as they struggle with their self image. For freshman Jacob Lowry, his experience with body image issues affected his demeanor.
“I don’t think I knew exactly how I wanted to look, and that made me less confident… I was definitely a much more reclusive person, a lot more restrained then,” Lowry said. .”
Additionally, a study led by Government Medical College has found that there is a concerning rise in body dysmorphia among adolescents. According to the DSM-5, Body dysmorphia is described as expressing a fixation with one’s real or perceived physical flaws.
Although many teenagers are not formally diagnosed with body dysmorphic disorder, many experience body dysmorphia among other issues with self esteem. Coulter describes their experience with body dysmorphia.
“I would look at people that were unhealthily skinny and think, ‘I wish I was this, God I wish I was skin and bones’ for some reason,” Coulter said.
Along with negative self esteem, body image issues can cause debilitating physical effects. Body dysmorphia is closely related to depression and eating disorders like Anorexia or Bulimia, conditions that have harsh effects on the body. Coulter describes their physical condition caused by their disorder.
“I couldn’t do the same things that I could before. I couldn’t get out of bed without feeling like I was gonna faint. I couldn’t carry a 20 pound box, I couldn’t do normal everyday life things anymore. That’s when I realized something wasn’t right,” Coulter said.
Conversely, it is important to consider how these issues can affect young men differently than women. A study published by Journal of Youth and Adolescence found in 2002 that the self esteem of young men typically increased steadily until age 14, when it suddenly dropped off at 16 years old. Sommerfeld acknowledges his experience with self image compared to his female peers.
“I feel like women are more concerned with just being thinner but I feel like men are more concerned with being muscular and thinner,” Sommerfeld said.
A study by Journal of Health Psychology found that 80% of men are dissatisfied with their body, either with muscles, height, weight or other attributes. Additionally, factors like height and weight contributed to men’s overall mental health and self image. Lowry comments on the different expectations between men and women.
“I think there are differences [between men and women.] There’s different societal pressures, on either youth… I do think that my male peers in particular, have pressure to be a lot more physically fit or [muscularly] defined,” Lowry said.
Trying to reach a certain physique without ensuring proper rest or food intake can lead to long lasting health problems. Miller explains how some students might improperly diet.
“[It’s easy to] form unhealthy habits as a teen,” Miller said. “If you’re not getting the right nutrients then you can’t have enough energy to feel good or concentrate. I think, in general, restricting [food] is one unhealthy way that a lot of people diet. Choosing, ‘I’m gonna cut out all carbs.’ Even though carbs aren’t bad for you. Your body actually does need some carbs in order to function. It’s just finding that right balance of food that you need to be a healthy and functioning human.”
According to the University of Michigan Health, two thirds of parents notice that their child is self conscious about their body. It is crucial to talk to someone you care about that you notice has issues with their self esteem. Coulter explains how having a support system while having body dysmorphia is important.
“There’s people here for you,” Coulter said. “If you have family, you can go to them, if you have friends, go to them, anybody that you can reliably talk to. It doesn’t have to be somebody [at school]. It doesn’t have to be your parents. It needs just to be somebody, because even if you talk to one person, they might be able to go get you help, even if you might not want it at the time.”
NIH also discusses how to notice these problems, with intense exercise, fasting, eating until uncomfortably full often and dieting frequently being common symptoms. It’s still possible to have these tendencies even while not losing weight, as Coulter explains.
“I didn’t lose a lot of weight, but even when the numbers [on the scale] dropped, I physically didn’t look much different,” Coulter said. “I was really lightheaded and nauseous almost all the time though.”
Hood’s self esteem has caused her to adjust her schedule to fit more time to get ready.
“Some days it gets to the point where I spend over an hour every single morning doing my makeup because I’m insecure,” Hood said. “I have to wake up at 5:15 every single morning just to do [my makeup,] So my sleep schedule gets affected. There are some days when it’s so bad that I won’t even leave the house.”
Miller states how showing support and taking a notice in change in behavior could help out a friend going through body image issues.
“Just saying ‘Hey, I care about you. I’ve noticed X, Y, Z, I’ve noticed that you’ve lost some weight, I normally see you eat at school and I’m worried about you. Is there anything I can do to support you?’ and encourage them to use the resources we have here and talk to a trusted adult, whether that be a teacher or your counselor or a social worker. I think just being a great friend is a way to help [your peers].”
Recent trends have suggested the idea for body neutrality, which Cleveland Clinic explains is “prioritizing the body’s function and what it can do rather than its appearance.” Body neutrality is about feeling content with one’s body and recognizing that genetics play the biggest role in size and shape, something that can’t change by diet or working out.
Lowry explains why this view could help young people to be kinder to themselves.
“I think identifying if you have certain insecurities or a negative perception of yourself, even if you want to fix or change them, sometimes you have to become comfortable with things that you can’t change, and I think that is pretty important,” Lowry said.
Throughout all of many body image trends that are constantly changing, Miller provides advice on what students should be focusing on to stay confident.
“I think what is so hard to do as a teenager is being confident in who you are,” Miller said. “I think finding your strengths and feeling good about them and embracing them is how you should live. It’s so hard as a teenager to feel that way because you’re still figuring out who you are and what you like. There’s all these different pressures as a teenager. but ultimately feeling confident about what you love about yourself and embracing them can make a positive difference [in your life].”
