While eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia often are thought to be mainly conditions from which girls and women suffer, researchers at Boston Children’s University found that teen males are also susceptible to such disorders. According to a new study, about 18 percent of teen males had extreme concerns about their weight and body image.

“Clinicians may not be aware that some of their male patients are so preoccupied with their weight and shape that they are using unhealthy methods to achieve the physique they desire,” says study author Alison Field, an associate professor of pediatrics and epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health. “Parents are not aware they should be as concerned about eating disorders and an excessive focus on weight and shape in their sons as in their daughters.” (CBS News)

Paul Asay has covered religion for The Washington Post, Christianity Today, Beliefnet.com and The (Colorado Springs) Gazette. He writes about culture for Plugged In and wrote the Batman book God on the Streets of Gotham (Tyndale). He lives in Colorado Springs with wife Wendy and his two children. Follow him on Twitter.