Eating Disorders
Japanese kids' eating habits crumbling under social pressure

(October 20, 2003) - Eating disorders are running rampant among Japanese schoolchildren, with over 50 percent of high schools reporting increases in students suffering from such problems as anorexia and bulimia, a national survey has found.

Research conducted by the National Institute of Mental Health at the National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry found that the number of children with such disorders was increasing at a rate of 45 percent among junior high schools and 54 percent among high schools.

For schools that had experienced such problems with their students in the past, the figures rose to 62 percent and 87 percent, respectively.

"Anorexia and bulimia are increasing among junior high school and high school students at a greater rate than imagined," said Gen Komaki, a member of the institute.

The institute collected data from 717 junior high schools and 514 high schools in eight prefectures across Japan to compile the results.

Among the schools that replied, 6 percent of junior high schools and 15 percent of high schools said the number of students with eating disorders was increasing rapidly. A total of 39 percent of both junior high schools and high schools described the increase as slow.

Schools said missing breakfast or talking about dieting was common among students. "Weight or appearance" was the top subject that students with disorders mentioned to schools.

When health teachers were questioned over what was behind students' problems, the most common answers were "influence from a society promoting being slim," "family problems," and "stress."

About 60 percent of schools said there was no medical institutions nearby to which they could send students with such problems, highlighting a gap in the medical treatment system.

"Today's impressionable generation is largely receiving modern cultural and social influence that tends toward thinking that outside appearances are related to self worth," said Komaki. "Schools and medical institutions need to work together and establish early-recognition and treatment systems."

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