Media And Negative Body Image

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Recommended: Effects of media on perceptions of body image

Introduction
There is great emphasis placed on the body and appearance in American culture. As a result, many studies have been conducted to study the effects of the media on individuals of both genders. From personal experience, the media has the greatest impact on adolescents and college students as these are the prime years where individuals from both genders are situating with society’s expectations. One of the many ways which individuals keep up with the latest trends is by consuming high amounts of media, such as reading fashion magazines or watching television shows. Today, both men and women are faced with unrealistic expectations every time they open a fashion magazine. Our society has been promoting an unrealistic image of beauty which is practically impossible for the majority of the population to achieve. However, the reality is that most magazines airbrush the pictures in order to “perfect” their models. Unfortunately, this unattainable body image has been contributing to low self-esteem, a negative body image, as well as the development of destructive eating disorders in both genders. According to Bell and Dittmar (2011), this negative body image is a result of environmental pressures to conform to a culturally-defined body and beauty ideal. This research will focus on the effects of a specific media type, magazines related to fashion, celebrity news, and lifestyle, on both females and males. We will measure the amount of exposure individuals have to the thin ideal image as well as the degree of their bodily satisfaction.
Research Method
The unit of analysis for this study will be students who are currently enrolled in CSU Northridge. My research team and I will contact the Institutional Research Offices of the un...

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... an Information Technology Specialist Consultant create an online survey to be sent out to our random sample of students. The university will then send out 1,750 surveys via email to the chosen students.
April-May: After receiving the completed surveys, we will collect data and limit the respondents to the first acceptable 1,500 respondents. We will also send them the promised gift cards for their participation. The research team will analyze the data.
June: After analyzing the data, we will write the final report summarizing the results.
Costs of the study
• Information Technology Specialist Consultant required to create the online survey to be sent out via email to the pool of respondents selected by a simple random sample- $5,000
• Cost of the gift cards that will be sent out to the 1,500 respondents ($10 each x 1,500 respondents)- $15,000
• Total cost: $20,000

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