Eight-year-olds taping stomachs flat: Alarm raised over eating disorders in children

Helen Bird knew eating disorders in Australia had changed when a primary school approached her for advice.

“They had had some eight-year-olds coming to school with gaffer tape on their tummies because they wanted their tummies to be flat,” the head of prevention at eating disorder charity the Butterfly Foundation said.

“I have been at Butterfly for a long time. When we started we would get some interest from primary schools, but now we get a lot more interest.”

Across Australia, experts and principals are reporting a sharp rise in disordered eating and distorted body image. At the Sydney Morning Herald’s annual Schools Summit last Monday, two principals flagged concerning trends they had observed.

“Eating disorders have always been there [but] we are certainly seeing a rise and that deeply worries me,” said Pymble Ladies’ College principal Dr Kate Hadwen, adding that signs of disordered eating behaviours were emerging in students as young as year 5.

She linked the trend in part to the growing influence of social media and constant exposure to curated images that distort self-image.

“There are absolute concerns around volume and the way that girls view themselves,” Hadwen said.

At Ashfield Boys High School, principal Dwayne Hopwood has observed a marked increase in body image concerns among male students, alongside growing interest in gym memberships, protein supplements and muscle-building regimes.

“I really think it’s because [students] are seeing more human beings on screens than they’re seeing in reality,” he said. “The bodies they’re seeing on screens – whether it’s games or social media – are not necessarily real.”

Eating disorder presentations in Australia are “the highest they have ever been”, according to Inside Out Institute clinical psychologist and researcher Ashlea Hambleton who has been investigating eating disorders for a decade.

A 2023 research paper commissioned by The Butterfly Foundation found 27 per cent of eating disorder cases in Australia are among those aged 10 to 19. The prevalence of eating disorders in this age bracket had risen by 86 per cent since 2012.

Hambleton said the body positivity movement of the 2010s was replaced by a drastic cultural shift after the pandemic, with extreme thinness, diet and fitness culture lauded, and weight loss medication – such as GLP-1s – embraced and promoted on social media.

“Social media and interaction with online spaces is a known kind of contributor to increasing body distress,” Hambleton said.

“Even when young people aren’t seeking that kind of content … that content finds them. It’s very hard to ignore online, and it’s quite … pervasive and intrusive for young people.

“To see beloved celebrities visibly changing is quite a confusing message.”

Sixteen-year-old Sydney student Lucy, whose surname has been withheld, developed an eating disorder when she was 12. While her eating disorder was triggered by a need for control, and not social media pressures, she has seen the devastating effect social media has had on her peers.

“It snowballed very quickly. I got quite unwell quickly,” she said.

Lucy was hospitalised in Sydney Children’s Hospital and spent a month in a ward. Now in recovery, she is sharing her story to increase awareness.

“When you are younger you can’t understand what is real and what is fake. It is so much easier to get trapped in the mindset that maybe you aren’t good enough,” she said.

“We were making so much progress … we have had the social media ban and now there is AI. It is a difficult time to be a teenager. You are never safe from comparison because you have your phone and social media.

“I think AI is really scary ... Kids are so susceptible to being trapped and surrounded by unrealistic standards they forget that it’s not normal.”

Sydney psychologist and eating disorder researcher Dr Phillip Aouad agreed the demographics being diagnosed with eating disorders had changed, with more cases in children aged 10 to 12.

“The diet and influencer‑type culture seems to be very prominent and in a lot of young people’s faces, and it just puts a lot of pressure on young people to fit into a particular mould, whether it be thin or lean or muscle,” Aouad said.

“We are definitely experiencing a sharp increase in the severity of cases in young people that are presenting.”

He called for a targeted approach to prevention, including programs in schools.

“There is this issue that seems to be so prominent, but there is no availability of resources, there is no availability of support for the teaching and the supporting staff to support the young people,” he said.

“A lot of it boils down to educating young people about the dangers ... and teaching people how to question even the content that they’re consuming. It’s really important to get in early.”

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