 "Risk factors" is a term used by healthcare professionals to describe those characteristics that predispose people to a specific disease. Depending on the illness, these predisposing traits are based upon biological, genetic, psychological, cultural, personality-type, and/or lifestyle factors.
For the sake of disease prevention education, healthcare professionals and researchers talk about risk factors to inform their patients and the public about how to best prevent disease. Lower the risk factors for a specific disease, and one lowers the chances of contracting the disease.
Knowledge of risk factors is problematic when people believe they are immune from a disease just because they do not have any or very few risk factors. Immunity from risk factors is no guarantee of not developing an illness. Risk factors often create a stereotypical image of the type of person who falls victim to a specific disease.
In the past, it was believed that only upper-middle class Caucasian, adolescent females fell prey to eating disorders. Now, it is known that females of any age, race, and economic class are vulnerable to eating disorders - and not only females, but males too!
Just as it is a mistake to think only females get eating disorders, so too, it is a mistake to assume all males with eating disorders possess the same traits and experiences. Males of any age, race, cultural background, economic class, and educational background are vulnerable to eating disorders. Both the athlete and those who do not participate in sports are predisposed to eating disorders. Both heterosexual and homosexual men are at risk for eating disorders. Boys and men with eating disorders have different issues, different crisis, different personalities, and different experiences.
 Eating disorders can be triggered for a variety of reasons. Regardless of the reasons, the causes create a psychological disposition (or mindset) leading to eating disordered beliefs and behaviors as a means of coping with stress, emotional pain, and life's challenges.
Let's look at some risk factors that may make people vulnerable to the illness. People who are compelled to conform to media, cultural, and family values and expectations are particularly vulnerable to eating disorders. They are willing to do whatever it takes to please others and be admired by them.
The media's idealization of a culturally ideal male body image as being muscular, yet thin has resulted in many boys and men being fixated on achieving these characteristics in themselves. The belief in our culture is that the reward for bodily perfection is power, respect, success, and sexual attractiveness.
It appears that people with certain personality types tend to be at higher risk for eating disorders. Males with eating disorders typically have dependent, avoidant, and passive-aggressive personality-styles (Kearney-Cooke & Steichen-Asch, 1990). The three parts of this personality-style are described below.
The person with a dependent personality yearns for social approval and affection, and fears abandonment by others. These individuals dutifully comply with others to please them and win their approval.
The avoidant personality-style fears rejection and humiliation from others, and tends to be over-sensitive to the comments and actions of others. Consequently, their anxiety and fear of rejection causes them to distance themselves from others, in order to protect themselves from criticism and rejection.
Passive-aggressive refers to those individuals who act aggressively in a covert way. Personality characteristics of passive-aggressive people include: being impulsive, inconsistent, unpredictable, and ambivalent.
People in certain careers tend to be more predisposed to eating disorders. In general, the professional appearance is perceived to be one of thinness. Jobs requiring public appearances and sports-related careers are at increased risk for eating disorders.
Event triggers can place a person at increased risk for an eating disorder, including a death of a family member or friend, relationship problems, and stress from high expectations placed upon one by family, work, school, and/or coaches.
Athletes are at high risk for eating disorders, because many athletes have high expectations put upon them by coaches and other team members to do whatever it takes to win. Males will strive to achieve a leaner, more muscular body for better performance at their sport.
Homosexual men tend to be at higher risk for eating disorders than their heterosexual counterparts. There may be two reasons for this. First, the gay culture highly values an ideal masculine physique (Schneider & Agras, 1987; Yager, 1998). Secondly, a gay man's sexual identity crisis may be so traumatic (- the triggering event) that he uses the eating disorder as a coping mechanism to win others approval, admiration, and respect.
Kearney-Cooke, A. & Steichen-Asch, P. (1990) in Males with Eating Disorders by ed. A. E. Andersen (New York: Brunner/Mazel) pp. 58, 64-65.
Schneider, J. A. & Agras, W. S. (1987) "Bulimia in Males: A Matched Comparison with Females" in International Journal of Eating Disorders, 6, pp. 235-242.
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