Association between Maltreatments in Childhood or Adolescence and Eating Disorder: A Review

Abstract

Eating disorders is a hot research topic that generates a lot of attention in the research field. Various research has been done in order to discover the etiology of eating disorders. This paper aims to focus on the developmental factors, childhood and adolescence maltreatments specifically, that cause eating disorders. Two different maltreatments are involved in this paper, which are sexual abuse and cyberbullying. After revising previous studies, the close association between childhood and adolescence maltreatments has been proved. Other external factors that might affect study results have also been taken into account, such as one’s sexuality, gender, age and family. For example, study have proven that bisexual and homosexual males with sexual abuse experience are more vulnerable to eating disorders. Several intervention strategies, such as EMD and how to properly use the internet and social media, are also being introduced and discussed in this paper.