University of Florida Study: Adolescent Girls Who Set Goals Too High May Risk Anorexia.

Byline: University of Florida

GAINESVILLE, Fla., Nov. 7 (AScribe Newswire) -- Perfectionism puts adolescent girls with unhealthy eating habits at risk for becoming anorexic and the body imperfections that go along with it as they grow older, a new University of Florida study finds.

"The hard thing is that we encourage girls to set goals," said Julia Graber, a UF psychology professor and one of the study's researchers. "We want adolescents to find things to strive for - that they think are important and want to work hard for - but when they set unrealistic goals, it leads to problems."

The study also found that girls who showed some bulimic tendencies, such as binge eating and occasional purging, were more likely to …