Web Sites Serve Up Dangerous Eating Disorders Advice

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A majority of parents (52 percent) didn't know whether their children visited pro-eating disorder Web sites, and 62.5 percent had no knowledge of pro-recovery sites. Half of parents of users of pro-eating disorder Web sites either didn't know whether their child visited these sites while in treatment or thought their child did not use these sites.

Peebles said the findings, published in the journal Pediatrics, underscore the need for parents to educate themselves about the Internet as a medium, so they can make consistent choices about guiding their teens' Web activity.

"I think a lot of parents are deciding by default not to be involved in their kids online activities really, just because Google, in and of itself, is scary to them," she said.

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"Most of our kids are more savvy surfers than we are," agreed Cynthia M. Bulik, professor of eating disorders at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine and director of the UNC Eating Disorders Program at UNC Hospitals. To stay in control, she tells parents to "hone your own surfing skills" and "keep your family-access computer in a place where everyone can see what is being surfed."

Parents also need to talk to their child about what he or she finds on the Internet, Bulik advised. And should they learn that their child is visiting eating disorder Web sites, that's a perfect opportunity to open a dialogue.

Bulik said, "I always tell parents, if your child comes home and says, 'I'm going on a diet,' or "I feel fat,' you should take it as seriously as if they were to come home and say, 'I'm trying my first cigarette' or 'I'm going to have a beer' -- time to start the conversation!"

More information

To learn more, visit the Academy for Eating Disorders.

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