The second discussion we will observe is the negative impacts the media plays on young adolescents, which can be the cause of low self-esteem, body dissatisfaction, eating disorders, and low self-worth. Bandura’s (1977) Social Cognitive Theory and the mass communication-focused cultivation model are relevant to the messages in the media. The media emphasizes the importance of unrealistic images of beauty. When a child internalizes thsee distorted ideals, this can lead to body dissatisfaction and disorder eating (Perloff, 2014).
Jochen and Patti (2007) had done research on the belief that young children were being exposed to an intense sexual media environment that treated women as objects. This portrayal has led girls feeling emotions such
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as low self-worth. The researchers’ study measured the sexual content exposure to young children, and the degree of content. This study used a survey asking the participants how often they were being exposed to this type of content on a daily basis. In contrast to the hypothesis, the results showed that there was no association between their exposure to sexually non-explicit content on television and movies and seeing women as sex objects. The researchers hypothesize that these findings are due to the desensitizing process young children encounter, due to high exposure to this type of sexual content. The children do not notice the content because they are so used to seeing it and hardly notice the sexual messages. Researchers then concluded that the level of explicitness vs. non-explicit could determine the notion of viewing women as sex objects. This research also notes that adolescents are exposed to almost double the amount of sexual content in television than twenty years ago (Valkenburg, 2007, p. 382). Similarly, a study composed by Carolyn Lin (1998) observed how television commercials focus on a woman’s appearance opposed to the product. Researchers examined prime time commercials and found that women were more likely than men to be cast in sexually appealing roles to sell a product. Results also showed that women were more than three times likely to be portrayed as objects in this study (Lin, 1998). Depression and low self-esteem have been indirectly correlated on this issue. The constant exposure to television and ads depicting women as sex objects has been linked to low self-esteem (Higgins, 1989). Higgin’s self-discrepancy theory states that depression and body image are correlated. The rate of media exposure on a daily basis is steadily increasing over the years. Young American children will be exposed to media content around 7 hours each day (Jason, Danielewicz & Mesina, 2005). This increase in exposure is also seen in young girls who are exposed to double the number of sex scenes on a public television than twenty years ago (Peter & Valkenburg, 2007). The media is societies’ social outlet, which is available to everyone. Girls may develop negative body image ideals and body dissatisfaction as young as nine due to the media’s content. In a study done by Clark and Tiggemann (2008) observed sociocultural and individual psychological predictors of body image. Lawrie, Sullivan Davies, and Hill (2006) observed the messages the media was relating to adolescents on body image.
The researchers used over 900 students who were ages 9-14 years of age to complete the “Sociocultural Influences Questionnaire.” The questionnaire examined how the media can influence someone to become thinner, increase muscle size, or if it made them want to gain weight. Results of this study showed that both girls, as well as boys, could all agree that the media never conveys messages to want to gain weight. Girls’ scores were higher when it came to wanting to become thinner, and boys scored higher in wanting to increase muscle size. Body dissatisfaction can happen before a child hits puberty and is linked with diet motivation (Lawrie et al., …show more content…
2006). In a study done by Haas, Pawlow, Pettibone, and Segrist (2012) had researched the media’s pressure to be thin causing individuals to have low self-esteem and feelings about their bodies and overall appearance. Their study aimed to expose myths to college students about female images in the media hoping it would be apart of the solution to fixing the issue as an intervention. The study used a 2x3 mixed design ANOVA with 80 girls per group. These groups then completed a scale measuring body-esteem three times a week. The first testing was at baseline, then after media exposure, and then again after the intervention. The intervention was designed to inform girls and women how the media skews our perceptions of the typical female body. Results of this study were promising and corresponded and supported to previous research on this topic (Pawlow, Pettibone & Segrist, 2012). Informing and showing the girls what the real average women’s body looks like and the altered unrealistic body image the media skews has a positive effect on women and saw significant increases in self-esteem after the intervention. Further research needs to be conducted to observe other effects of telling women the truth about the media and how they skew the average body image of the female into one that is unrealistic and not the ideal beauty. These results are highly encouraging. One theoretical model looking into research on body dissatisfaction, body surveillance, and pressures one may have from the media was done with the help of several researchers. Knauss, Paxton, and Alsaker (2008) composed a study with boys and girls aged between 14-16 years of age in Switzerland. Switzerland was reporting incredibly high rates of body dissatisfaction that these researchers wanted to observe. There were 1,610 participants, 791 girls and 819 boys M=14.9 years, SD= .73. The sample was recruited from different socioeconomic statuses as well as different counties. The participants completed questionnaires using a Likert scale. In support of the researcher’s hypothesis, the results showed that girls showed high reports of body dissatisfaction, with boys scoring high in this area but not as high as females. Higher body surveillance and body shaming was reported to be higher for girls as well. The theory on this issue is that girls internalize their body dissatisfaction more due to the sexual objectification that is commonly found in the media (Knauss, Paxton & Alsaker, 2008). Although this study had limitations due to the lack of participants being diverse, this study only focused on young adolescents in Switzerland and thus cannot make an inference to the population. Further observing the previous study, the views of adolescent’s interpretations of a healthy body is important. In a study done by Eyal and Tali (2013), used the social comparison theory to test out the hypothesis stating that body dissatisfaction was linked with the media. This notion was observed and tested. Results had shown that the young participants had already begun to compare themselves to the people on television, causing an unrealistic ideal of beauty. This study can help create future research approaching the issue and help create interventions to help young adolescents differentiate the difference between a fake made up character on television who has expensive make-up artists doing their hair and make-up, as opposed to the average normal person and their beauty (Eyal & Te’en-Harari, 2013). In contrast to the thesis statement the media can have positive effects. A study was done by Kirkorian, Wartella, and Anderson (2008), which focused on the media’s positive effects on children, such as learning at young ages. The author discusses the importance of cognitive skills and academics in television and creating programs designed to educate children. Several programs such as Barney and Blues Clues have shown to increase learning and school readiness than children who did not watch these programs. Another study done by Alan and Emily (2010) found no effects on women obtaining lower self-esteem due to exposure to beautiful women shown in photographs. The purpose of their study was to examine how presentation and different study designs could alter results. Alan and Emily (2010) had observed and tested the Five-Factor personality traits in women. Women had higher neuroticism and therefore had higher self-esteem. Women low in neuroticism scored lower in self-esteem (Roberts & Good, 2010). These women who had more confidence and higher neuroticism saw these beautiful women as a challenge and motivation. The highly confident women did not feel threatened. This study gives a non-biased opinion on this theory and thus challenges the theory in turn. Further research must be done to support further or disapprove this topic. Constant media exposure can also create eating disorders in adolescents. In Western culture, the pressure to be beautiful and to look a certain way according to society is a major issue.
This issue has been linked to the cause of eating disorders (Polivy & Herman, 2002). Increase rates of eating disorders are prevalent in our current society. Anorexia and Bulimia nervosa are the most prevalent eating disorders (Polivy & Herman, 2002). Their research has also shown that adolescents who watch certain programs that constantly expose beautiful models are doing more body-surveillance as opposed to the adolescents who are less exposed to the content.
Supporting research done by Spurr, Berry, and Walker (2013) views how the average adolescent views body image with the influence of the media. Eating disorders have become apparent to adolescents who think they know what a healthy body consists of. Spurr, Berry, and Walker (2013) conducted a focus group with adolescents’ aged 16-19 and scored their answers on what they thought a healthy body was. The results had shown the risks of large consumptions of mass media showing low self-esteem scores due to the participant’s unrealistic ideals on a healthy body accumulated from the
media. Eating disorders have been a major concern when linked with media influences. Over half a million adolescents struggle with a different eating disorder (Frasciello & Willard, 1995). The media shapes self-values and self-esteem. Young children may seek ways that are unhealthy to attain the ideal body such as anorexia and bulimia nervosa. According to the DSM-5, Anorexia is classified as the identifier having distorted body image and a constant fear of gaining weight (APA, 2013). Kristen Harrison (1997) observed the media’s thin and beautiful personalities that promote unhealthy eating habits to become thin. Supporting this notion the author found in 1992 a sample of women’s magazines that had ten times a many dieting advertisements as men’s magazines had (Andersen & DiDomenico, 1992). The hypothesis in Harrison’s (1997) study stated that the link between attraction to social agents would cause the individual to imitate and look up to that behavior, thus developing eating disorders. Results from this study rejected the null hypothesis and supported the alternative hypothesis supporting that attraction to thin media actors can generate an eating disorder. It should be noted that this research did not use longitudinal studies and responses from the study were simple in responses and only focused on one aspect of eating disorders. In a study done by Bell, and Dittmar (2011) observed and demonstrated that exposure to the thin ideal in any context including the Internet is damaging to adolescent girls’ body dissatisfaction. There were 199 participants in the study who completed the media consumption survey. Participants were then exposed to music videos with beautiful thin girls and remained constant in showing the thin girls on the screen. As expected, the participant’s weight was a predictor of post-exposure body dissatisfaction. Consistent with the hypothesis when girls have a strong level or normal level of media exposure were affected by the thin ideal and reported higher body appearance dissatisfaction compared to the control groups’ results. This study also measured whether certain types of formats have a higher effect on body dissatisfaction than other types of media formats. Results showed little support of this hypothesis, stating that all formats of media have equal amounts of negative results to body image. It’s crucial to incorporate a universal approach in reducing the impact of the thin ideal beauty approach to all platforms of media. The Dove campaign has shown positive contributions in the fight against body image. This campaign composed an experiment and showed girls videos of positive emotions and regards for their bodies, and then showed controlled images of beautiful women. Results were impressive and helped adolescents prevent themselves from damaging comparisons to the media. Participants who were not shown this video reported lower self-esteem when they viewed the controlled images of beautiful women. There are ways we can fight against this pressing growing issue. The issue has to become known and people need to be educated on this topic. In a study done by Slater, Tiggemann, Firth, and Hawkins (2012) observed exposing a warning label to participants informing them that Photoshop altered the images they were about to see. Results concluded that the participants who were not shown the warning label expressed a more negative mood than the participants who were shown the warning label. This study proves that there is ways to counteract this issue by informing the tv watchers, movie-goers, etc. that images may be altered and not to have their images influence your perceptions on yourself. Intervention to help stop the increase in media exposure was done by Leonard, Danielewicz, and Mesina (2005), which looked at the parents taking control over their child’s media usage. Their parent-child behavioral training program has been effective in decreasing media usage. The author states how regardless if you believe that the media is the culprit to having a negative effect on the children’s behavior, excessive viewing is not good for children. This program can help increase a child’s time to find other things to do and encourages the children to be successful. The increase in eating disorders makes it imperative that we continue research investigating aspects that decrease body dissatisfaction and think of ways in which to increase their self-esteem and turn around their satisfaction starting with themselves. Future research should implement and learn from studies done by the Dove campaign by determining if similar campaigns will prove to be effective and help adolescents with body image and to love
The Effects of Media on the Body-Image of Preadolescent Girls. Media is infamous for having a tremendous effect on teenage girls. The mass media have long been criticized for presenting unrealistic appearance ideals that contribute to the development of negative body image for many women and girls (Harrison & Hefner, 2006). Whether it’s the influence on their choice of friends, school, or their self-image, media has played an important role in affecting those decisions. A growing number of experimental studies have demonstrated a causal link between acute exposure to "thin-ideal" images (i.e., images of impossibly thin and attractive female beauty) and increased body dissatisfaction (Hargreaves & Tiggemann, 2003).
In recent years, sociologists, psychologists, and medical experts have gone to great lengths about the growing problem of body image. This literature review examines the sociological impact of media-induced body image on women, specifically women under the age of 18. Although most individuals make light of the ideal body image most will agree that today’s pop-culture is inherently hurting the youth by representing false images and unhealthy habits. The paper compares the media-induced ideal body image with significant role models of today’s youth and the surrounding historical icons of pop-culture while exploring various sociological perspectives surrounding this issue.
Derenne, J. L., & Beresin, E. V. (2006). Body image, media, and eating disorders. Academic Psychiatry, 30(3), 257-261.
The complications that accompany body image have long been an issue in society. Body image is the sense of how an individual views his or her own body as compared to others in society, or what is considered to be the ideal body image. There are many different factors that effect ones body image, but a major influence is the media. The media has long been associated with eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia. Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder where an individual participates in self-starvation, and bulimia is an eating disorder where an individual will eat as much as he or she wishes and then purges the previously eaten food. These are two destructive eating disorders that are associated with a negative body image. This comes to question, does media have an influence on creating a negative body image, which may inherently lead to eating disorders like anorexia nervosa and bulimia? Anorexia nervosa and bulimia affect various age groups but is extremely common in adolescence and emerging adulthood. During this stage in an individual’s lifespan there is a lot going on with ones psychological development as well as body. How an adolescent views his or her body image be highly impacted by how the media portrays what the ideal body image is. According to Berger (2015), “as might be expected from a developmental perspective, healthy eating begins with childhood habits and family routines” (p.415). If proper eating habits are not implemented negative body image and eating disorders that are associated with media becomes further predominant in adolescence and emerging adulthood.
Derenne, Jennifer L., and Eugene V. Beresin. "Body Image, Media, and Eating Disorders." Academic Psychiatry 30. June (2006): 257-61. Web. 23 Mar. 2011.
Research shows “that regular readers of fashion and beauty magazines in early adolescence are more likely to suffer from a distorted body image during their teenage years” (“Children, Adolescents and the Media”), when they read beauty magazines they read articles and tips of how to look better and they try to them all to look and feel better about themselves. Research shows that “more than three-quarters of girls repot that television influenced their body image” (Mascarelli). Social media influences how we act and what we do Amanda Swartz once stated “Social media and mass media influence the way we react and interact with our world and potentially influence the perception of our own body image” (Mulliniks). In today’s worlds there are more ways to access websites to promote body image as a positive thing, “On the internet, there are now more than 100 pro anorexia websites that not only encourage disordered eating but offer specific advice on purging, severely restricting calories intake, and exercising excessively” (“Children, Adolescents and the Media”). It’s not a bad thing to eat healthy and work out to be fit and healthy but it’s another thing to eat less and work out excessively. Teens always compare themselves to others, either their peers, models and celebrities, “People are on Facebook or Instagram and they’re constantly comparing themselves to other people” (Mulliniks). Also reality television shows, show only the glamorous about what is happening, like “when teen moms become celebrities, the message to avoid teen pregnancy is lost” (Kroll). When teens watch shows like Teen Mom they don’t see the entire negative about becoming pregnant as a teen they see that the teen mom got famous and is on the show. Social media, media, magazines, and TV give teen’s unrealistical facts about body image, pregnancy and
Our society today is heavily influenced by the media and the imagery it shows. Though it may be indirect, the media provides unhealthy messages about ideal body sizes, gender attractiveness, and weight control that make women view themselves in a negative way. Magazines, television, and movies influence teenage girls on what they believe their body image should be. The images they show set the standard of what is considered physically attractive in our society. With the use of photoshop, media depicts falsified images of models and actresses to create a perfected look that is unattainable by the average woman. This creates a desire among teenage girls to look like these stars that are often shown. When teenage girls look at these images, they compare themselves to those images, and then judge themselves based on these comparisons. These judgements can potentially lead to eating disorders. In order to prevent the risk of eating disorders among teenage girls, the media should depict a typical image of people, rather than idolizing a specific standard of beauty.
The media can impact people’s lives in many ways, whether it’s fashion, movies, literature, or hobbies. One of the impacts is how women view their bodies. Movie stars and models feel pressured to catch attention and to look good in order to have a good career in their respective field. People tend to judge how someone looks based on their body composition. The result of this “judgment” is that Hollywood is getting skinny. Since models and actresses serve as role models for people, people tend to want to look like them. The result of this seemingly harmless model of behavior is in an increase in eating disorders.
Researchers have used various abstract foundations for examining the relationship between media and body image ( Holmstrom, 2004). Here I review the theory that has been used by researcher in the area. Bandura’s Social cognitive theory (1994) assumed that “people learn and model the behaviors of attractive others”. The supporters of this theory suggest that young women find slim models in the media attractive and try to imitate them through dieting which leads them to eating disorders.
“The attention-grabbing pictures of various high-flying supermodels and actors on different magazine covers and advertisements go a long way in influencing our choices” (Bagley). The media is highly affective to everyone, although they promote an improper image of living. Research proved says those with low self-esteem are most influenced by media. Media is not the only culprit behind eating disorders. However, that does not mean that they have no part in eating disorders. Media is omnipresent and challenging it can halt the constant pressure on people to be perfect (Bagley). Socio-cultural influences, like the false images of thin women have been researched to distort eating and cause un-satisfaction of an individual’s body. However, it is clear that, although virtually all women are exposed to these socio-cultural influences, only a very small proportion develop clinical eating disorders (Mazzeo and Bulik). Every article believes that socio-culture have an impact on eating disorders. Although, researchers believe that is not the only reason, and the easiest statement to make. Eating disorders are far more complicated than it just being blamed on the media. Bagley, Mazzeo and Bulik all state that media play a role in the development but are not the main reason to developing an eating disorder. In all of the research done thus far media is a part of eating disorders, but not the only culprit.
Eating disorders are described as an illness involving eating habits that are irregular and an extreme concern with body image or weight. Eating disorders tend to appear during teenage years, but can develop at any age. Although more common in women, eating disorders can affect any age, gender or race. In the United States, over 20 million women and 10 million men are personally affected by eating disorders. There are many different causes of eating disorders such as low self esteem, societal pressures, sexual abuse and the victims perception of food. Eating disorders are unique to the sufferer and often, their perception of themselves is so skewed, they may not be aware they have an eating disorder. Media, for quite some time now, has played a significant part in eating disorders. Magazines with headlines ‘Summer Body’, or ‘Drop LB’s Fast!’ attract the attention of girls who may be insecure with themselves. Television productions such as the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show or American’s Next Top Model, show airbrushed and photoshopped women who have body types that may be unachievable. Those who are suffering from eating disorders can suffer dangerous consequences, and it is important to seek help.
Body image and body change methods in adolescent boys and Role of parents, friends, and the media contributed a number of statistics to this facet. Of the participants from this study, 20% contributed a negative effect to the media with statements such as “I think I have a lot of work to do,” with 12.5% stating that it [media] promoted less eating in order to lose weight and slim down. It also showed that 37.5% of participants felt they were being pushed to go to the gym (Ricciardelli, et al.) The individuals in this study were ages 12-15, showing that the media has a strong effect on adolescent males as well as
Two prevalent eating disorders associated with the desire to be thin are Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa. Anorexia Nervosa is described as “self-starvation, low weight and fear of being fat” (Hellmich 185). Bulimia Nervosa is described as “the binge-and-purge disorder” (Hellmich 185) and based on prevalence studies “is up to three times more common than anorexia” (Inch 116). Both Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa are believed to be partially induced by the ideals portrayed in contemporary media; for example, “A number of studies have linked popular magazine exposure to symptoms of eating disorders among female readers” (Inch 2). While this quote exemplifies that magazines contribute to the development of eating disorders, it neglects to mention that such endorsement prevails throughout every genre of media. Consequently, eating disorders are spreading throughout North America; this is a regrettable fact considering the dangers associated with such
According to a research, 95 % of those suffering from these eating disorders are between the ages of 12 and 25, the primary audiences of those Fashion modeling television s...
Peter, Jochen, and Patti Valkenburg. "Adolescents’ Exposure To A Sexualized Media Environment And Their Notions Of Women As Sex Objects." Sex Roles 56.5/6 (2007): 381-395. Academic Search Premier. Web. 20 Nov. 2013.Vaes, Jeroen, Paola Paladino, and Elisa Puvia.