Teenage Girls: Negative Body Image

The surge in body fatness levels during adolescence and the normal associated changes in the female shape might explain why girls are more likely to experience a negative body image. Under the influence of sex hormones girls develop fat stores on the hips and thigh. This fear of fatness motivates otherwise sane young women to try unsafe methods of maintaining weight like smoking, laxatives, diuretics, crash diets, and vomiting, all presenting a greater threat to their health than obesity.