The adolescent years are a time when body image is crucial and peers can be painfully critical (Morrill, Leach, Shreeve, & Radebaugh, 1991). The presence of an eating disorder in this critical period can seriously harm an adolescent physically as well as mentally. Although the tendency to leave out obesity when thinking about eating disorders, the most prevalent eating disorder is overeating, or binge-eating. There has been a 75% relative increase in adolescent obesity over the past 3 decades …showed first 75 words of 2834 total…

…showed last 75 words of 2834 total…International Journal of Eating Disorders, 30, 447-453. Morrill, C.M. Leach, J.N. Shreeve, W.C. Radebaugh, M.R. (1991). Teenage Obesity: An Academic Issue. International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, Vol. 2, 245-250. Riva, G. (1996). The Role of Emotional and Socio-Cognitive Patterns in Obesity: Eating Attitudes in Obese Adolescents Before and After a Dietary-Behavioural Therapy. Psychological Reports, 78, 35-46. Valtolina, G.G. Marta, M. (1998). Family Relations and Psychosocial Risk in Families with an Obese Adolescent. Psychological Reports, 83, 251-260.