How Does Media Affect Body Image

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Body image is a key part of our sense of identity and not a trivial matter or one of personal vanity. It is a fundamental part of our sense and self and affects our thoughts, emotions, and behavior. It is the belief that our size, shape, and weight convey to the world what type of person we are. Our bodies and appearances are under scrutiny on a daily basis. Between health campaigns, magazines, television shows, peers; there is a continual promotion or suggestion of how one should physically look. The topic I have chosen is Body Image and The Media with the focus question: "How does the media affect body image of 12-18-year-old girls?".  I have proposed to investigate this concept to gain a deeper understanding of how other teenagers perceive themselves for various reasons, not just the media. Having already some background knowledge on the topic of body image and how it can affect an individual’s well-being, and having struggled with body image myself, has encouraged me to explore this topic in more detail. My hypothesis is that that there will be a negative correlation between media use and self-esteem where participants exposed to mass media, will have lower self-esteem. This study seeks to investigate …show more content…

My IRP has more than one research method in my data collection which was thirty questionnaires, a literature review, and five interviews. A good understanding of the research methods and completed sufficient readings of secondary data so that I am reasonably knowledgeable on the topic and will therefore not rely on biased judgments. During my Individual Research Project, there were some areas of weaknesses, such as when I was distributing the questionnaires. The participants were not taking it ‘seriously’ and were drawing on the questionnaires and making silly comments. I also had difficulties finding the age of participants because of the rollover during the school

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