Table 3.

Perceived causes of eating disorders (EDs)

Cause of EDs	Subcategory	Frequency stated	Supporting quotation
Internal factors	Body dysmorphia	5	Them not seeing their body in the way that other people would see it so there’s like that image that I think is used in loads of advertisements of a really skinny girl and she’s looking in a mirror and it’s like a much bigger reflection (Katie, 19)
	Genetic	5	I suppose if genetically you’re inclined to develop an eating disorder then probably that would be just as influential (Alicia, 21)
	Low self-worth	7	The root cause is probably from my understanding is like this idea of self-loathing, self-hatred this idea of not liking yourself and wanting to change yourself (Joe, 19)
	Family history	2	I could imagine if I was born into a family that had a history of say mental illness and eating disorders, it might be, not necessarily that you’ve been passed on genetically but it might be easier for that family to develop problems similar to those they had in the past, which I guess would be easier to pass on to you, as a person (Thomas, 18)
	Psychological comorbidity	10	I think it seems entirely plausible like if you have a mental illness such as depression perhaps, through that you could develop an eating disorder as well (Joshua, 20)
	Vicarious learning	2	There’s like the classic example of like passing from the, the mother to the daughter when she talks about like diet culture and everything, it can often become like instilled from a young age but subconsciously (Abigail, 18)
External factors	Bullying	6	Bullying, especially like younger kids who haven’t really had a chance to feel confident in themselves, if they get bullied, especially in school, like even if you’re like slightly overweight, not in a bad way, kids can be mean and say things and then that can lead to, especially in adolescence when you’re, I think there’s a lot of hormones and changes and you’re like vulnerable, I think if people are bullied that can lead to eating disorders when people are younger (Rebecca, 21)
	Life pressure	2	General stress, like pressure from external sources, so maybe work or something, or a big change in someone’s life, I think that can trigger any mental health issue (Grace, 22)
	Media pressure	12	I mean there’s a lot of very unhealthy representations in the media of what the perfect body looks like and I think that can be a sort of a fuel point for those issues (Joe, 19)
	Parental pressure	2	Sometimes it’s pressure from parents not in like, so I know some people that like their parents wanted them to be really academic but also I know some people’s parents have literally told them that they’re like fat and need to lose weight and stuff (Katie, 19)
	Traumatic life event	5	Sexual assault, I think some people might go to extremes to make themselves look undesirable so that they’re not victims again (Danielle, 21)
	University	5	People are at uni, I can imagine that’s such a big shift, you move away from like your family and you’re living by yourself, I can imagine that would probably be pretty easy, well pretty likely for something like that to develop (Thomas, 18)

Perceived causes of EDs alongside frequency stated and a supporting quotation.