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While the increasing rate of obese Americans and the heath effects that obesity causes appear in the media more and more each day, there remains a much less publicized group whose numbers also continue to rise one that is starving itself for the sake of beauty. Anorexia nervosa, while not often talked about, is just as much a product of our society as obesity. There are many causes for Anorexia Nervosa in our country, ranging from childhood abuse to an obsessive-compulsive need to have control over some part of their lives. However I believe almost all of the causes for the increase in Anorexia evidenced among young children in our society today result from a combination of lack of parental guidance and increased pressure from peers and media sources. With divorce rates in our country soaring to epidemic rates and most adults in both single and dual parent homes working full time our children are left more and more frequently to raise themselves without all the guidance past generations received. For this reason American youth spend more time watching television, surfing the internet or hanging out with friends than did the generations before them, and it is from these venues that our children gather most of their ideas, opi