Final answer:
Social status and stress are environmental factors that significantly influence the development of eating disorders, compounded by pressures such as a history of abuse, parental control, and cultural ideals.
Step-by-step explanation:
The environmental factors influencing the development of eating disorders include two crucial determinants: social status and levels of stress. Social status, pertaining to conditions such as wealth and privilege, is deeply connected to stress, which, in turn, can impact health and predispose individuals to various disorders, including eating conditions. Concurrently, high-stress environments and pressures, associated with lower social status or demanding roles like those of dancers or elite athletes, can aggravate the risk of developing eating disorders.
Moreover, environmental stresses such as a history of abuse, stringent parental control over eating habits, a fragile sense of self-identity, cultural pressures to achieve thinness, and social isolation can significantly heighten the risk of individuals developing eating disorders like anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa.