The effect of thin media images on body dissatisfaction - Eating Disorders

Nutrition Research Newsletter, March, 2002

The female body is reflected and portrayed in the media as an object of desire. Targeting markets to sell products such as diet, cosmetics, and exercise gear, the media constructs a dream world of hopes and high standards that incorporates the glorification of slenderness and weight loss. Research indicates that magazine advertisements and other media ploys are often used as a social comparison standard.

A number of studies have examined body satisfaction, eating disorder symptomatology, and negative effects as correlates of using mass media. A group of researchers from Kenyon College set up a quantitative, meta-analytic review of controlled experiments that evaluate the immediate effects of images of slender, ideal beauty on female body image. The authors hypothesized that viewing slender models would increase a female's immediate sense of body dissatisfaction and that females with a pre-experiment history of eating disorders or high body dissatisfaction scores would be more susceptible to the negative effects of thin media images.

Data from 25 studies were used to examine the main effect of mass media images of the slender ideal, as well as the moderating effects of pre-existing body image problems, the age of the women, the number of stimulus presentations, and the type of research design. All studies contained actual media stimuli that depict the entire body of thin models and included slides, advertisements or video clips from television commercials. As a control comparison, the study included stimuli depicting at least one of the following: average models, attractive nonmodels, overweight models, or objects such as cars or houses. Thirteen studies assessed body dissatisfaction using the Pictorial Body Image Scale, the Body Dissatisfaction Subscale of the Eating Disorders Inventory, the Visual Analogue Scale or other scales. Four studies used the Body Esteem Scale to assess weight satisfaction, while seven studies assessed physical attractiveness, and the remaining two studies used body size estimation to assess body size distortion.

Based on 25 studies, 43 d values were calculated. A negative d value means that thin media images had an adverse influence on body satisfaction levels compared with control images, while a positive d value reflected the opposite opinion. The analysis found 38 negative d values and five positive d values. Participants with significant body images were more adversely affected by thin media stimuli than participants without body dissatisfaction issues. In addition, participants not yet in college were more adversely affected by the presentation of thin media stimuli than participants aged 19 years and older. The negative effect of the slender ideal appears to be greater when compared with the effect of heavier, more full-figured women. There was also a significant effect of the number of stimuli presented, with participants being less affected by the presentation of thin media images as the number of stimuli presented increases.

This meta-analysis is the first statistical review of the effects of experimental manipulations of the thin ideal on the body image of girls and women. The results show that the sociocultural perspective that mass media such as fashion magazines and television promote, if not establish, a standard of slender beauty that leads many females to feel badly about their weight and shape. One negative aspect of this analysis is that one half of the studies did not measure body dissatisfaction before exposing participants to images of the thin ideal. The principal findings of this review point out that further research is necessary to elucidate why girls and women are motivated to read fashion magazines and how the media can aid in primary or secondary prevention of negative body image. Although more research is needed in the area of the media's effect on eating disorders and body dissatisfaction, we must not forget the other contributing psychological factors to these serious problems.

Lisa M. Groesz, Michael P. Levine, and Sarah K. Murnen. The effect of experimental presentation of thin media images on body satisfaction: A meta-analytic review. International Journal of Eating Disorders 31: 1-16 (January 2002). [Address correspondence to: Dr. Michael Levine, Department of Psychology, Kenyon College, Gambier, OH 43022-9623. E-mail: levine@kenyon.edu.]