Running head: BODY WEIGHT CONCERN
Body Weight Concern:
Affect of Visual Images and Body Satisfaction
Andrea DiRaddo
St. Bonaventure University
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine the effect that ideal and realistic images of females would have on young women’s body satisfaction. Thirty females participated. The Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI-2) was used to determine prior body satisfaction. The Body Esteem Scale was used to determine the participants feelings towards their weight, figure, and body build. The images (IV) were divided into three groups (ideal, realistic, control) and the (DV) was the person’s concern with their body weight; and body satisfaction (+ or-). A 3x2 factorial was used to test main effects and an interaction. The results were similar with previous research which implied that exposure to realistic and ideal images can affect a young women’s satisfaction with their body. This is a replication of a previous study however in this study different age groups werel be tested.
Body Weight Concern:
Affect of Visual Images and Body Satisfaction
Everywhere you look these days there seems to be a new actors being plastered over everything from television shows to magazines. The images they portray to their consumers have been proven to have an affect on one’s personal body image of themselves. Several studies have been done such as “Body image and televised images of thinness and attractiveness’ by Heinberg and Thompson which made a positive link between ideal media images of women and cognitive distortions among women. This replication study along with its original have investigated an ongoing theme in the media today that focuses on and “ideal” image that American women are striving to look like. This problem is important because it affects nearly all of the American female population of which most do not even know it is happening.
The theoretical implications behind this study would be that the media sends out messages to their consumer base about what they should look like. One theory would be that media forms, such as magazines, use famous people or models to convey a message to young females that they are not up to the standard, that the everyday American women looks like these images and so should you. This study has been done before along with many other studies. It relates to previous work in this area because there have been few if any studies done to prove the opposite of this. This is the not the only angle to take on this subject as well as the only study conducted on this idea. This study reemphasized what has already been proven.
The purpose of this study was to not only determine if exposure to media images would affect a women’s body satisfaction but also to see if realistic images would also. It was hypothesized that there would be an affect on women’s body satisfaction for both the ideal images as well as the realistic ones. A control group was also used to make a stronger comparison. The experimental design (3x2) relates to the problem because there are three different images being presented and after being tested prior to the experiment for body satisfaction, the participants are tested again, following the images to see if they have had an affect.
Methods
Subject
Thirty females participated ranging from ages 15-25. All the participants were European American.
Materials
The Eating Disorder Inventory (ESI-2) is a self-report measure of symptoms related to eating disorders. The second edition (ESI-2) has eleven subscales and they each represent a different trait. In this study it was used to assess overall dissatisfaction with the size and shape of particular body regions by asking the participants to state how often each of nine statements is true about them (e.g., “I feel satisfied with the shape of my body”, “I think my hips are too big”) The scale ranges from 0-27 with 0 indicated body satisfaction and 27 extreme dissatisfaction.
The
slides that were used consisted of a series of 10 slides of fashion models,
automobiles, and college students. The fashion model slides were selected from
popular women’s magazines such as Glamour and Vogue. Slides of automobiles with
no people present were used in the control group. Slides for the realistic image condition were
of women attending colleges and universities in southern
The Body Esteem Scale was used to measure participants’ post manipulation concern with their weight. The scale contained 10 items that are summed. Items ask respondents to indicate the level and strength of feelings towards their weight, figure and body build. Scores ranged from 10 to 50 with lower scores indicated more concern.
Procedure
Upon arriving to the experiment the participants were given the EDI-2 so that the body dissatisfaction scores could be taken. The next step was the viewing of the slides. In the media ideal condition the participants viewed 10 slides of fashion models. They were given 10 seconds to view each slide; participants in the control group followed the same procedure except they viewed slides of automobiles. The participants for the realistic image condition were shown 10 slides of college students. Each group was given a questionnaire based on the images that they viewed. This was done to increase processing of the images that were presented and also prohibit the participants from potentially figuring out exactly what was being tested. After viewing the slides the participants completed the Body Esteem Scale which measured weight concern.
The numbers were put together and an ANOVA was used to test for significance.
Results
Results are consistent with previous research. The affect of a females body satisfaction from the images were tested. This was a 3x2 factorial design and an ANOVA was used to test for significance. There was an Image main effect,
F (1, 54) = 41.518 p< 0.000 which shows significance and says that those with
negative body satisfaction are more concerned about body weight than those with
positive satisfaction (Main effect 1).
There was also a main effect for Satisfaction F
(1, 54) = 96.043 p<0.000 which so
shows significance and that real images, ideal and neutral images affect body
weight concern (Main effect 2) Also an Image by Satisfaction as
found, F (1, 54) = 30.761 p<0.000. The Interaction is that concern for body weight varies with body
satisfaction and images presented. Body weight concern varies for negatives’
body weight concern for real images. Concern is higher for ideal and lowest for
control images. See
Table 1 and Figure 1.
Discussion
The present data are congruent with theories presented throughout this study and ones that have been stated in past research. Bandera’s social learning theory supports this study and the affects that outside influence can have on a person. Bandura states that “most human behavior is learned observationally through modeling: from observing others one forms an idea of how new behaviors are performed, and on later occasions this coded information serves as a guide for action."(1977). This theory also states that the most commonly used example of social learning is with television commercials. The main idea that was presented in this study was that females will see the images presented to them in magazines or on TV and then want to model those people. Whether is it a particular appearance or even others’ reactions to the people, women see that and then desire it. Modeling is evident in every single person’s behavior pattern.
A correlational study was done between negative body image, disordered eating, and level of media exposure. The study proved that girls that had eating disorders reported to have been mostly influenced by magazines and newspapers. “A study of college students found that the amount of magazine and TV exposure in the previous month was strongly linked via direct and indirect paths to eating disorders.” (Levine, 2000) It was found that “compared with community controls, young women with eating disorders were more likely to report that magazines and newspapers influences their eating habits, their endorsement of a slender beauty ideal, and their body image.” (Levine, 2000)
The results of this study along with its original and other past studies have all shown a direct correlation and also affect of ideal images on a young women. It would be interesting to perform this same study with men to see if there would be an affect of realistic images versus ideal versus none at all. Another thing that would have been interesting to test would have been if the same results happened with women of different races. These particular results demonstrate that dividing women on the basis of their level of body dissatisfaction into satisfied and dissatisfied groups reliably distinguishes women who are susceptible vs. not susceptible to adverse affects of media exposure. The results support the hypothesis and all other findings. The affect of body weight concern for the level of image is dependant on the level (+ or -) of image satisfaction.
These findings
can impact college students such as me because there are a large present that
do have negative body image which can be affected by their body weight concern.
The various cells show that those with negative body satisfaction are more
concerned about body weight than those with positive satisfaction. Real images,
ideal and neutral images affect body weight concern, and finally that concern for
body weight varies with body satisfaction and images presented. Body weight
concern varies for negatives’ body weight concern for real images. Concern is
higher for ideal and lowest for control images.
References
Bandura,
A. (1977). Social Learning
Theory.
Berel, S., &
Heinberg, L. J., & Thompson, J.K. (1995). Body image and televised images of thinness and attractiveness: A controlled laboratory investigation. Journal of Social Psychology and Clinical Psychology, 14, 325-338.
Levine, Michael P. (2000) Mass Media and Body Image: A Brief Review of the Research. Healthy Weight Journal. 84-87.
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed). (2001).
Silverstein, B., Perdue, L., Peterson, B., & Kelly, E. (1986). The role of the mass media in promoting a thin standard of bodily attractiveness for women. Sex Roles, 14, 519-532.
Wood,
J. (19899. Contemporary social comparison theory. Psychological Bulletin,
106-231-248.
Table 1: Analysis of Variance
Mean scores of Images and Concern with Body Weight
Images
|
|
real |
ideal |
neutral |
|
positive |
5 |
5 |
5 |
|
negative |
15 |
20 |
5 |
Body Satisfaction
Figure Caption
Figure 1: Affect of Visual Images and Body Satisfaction
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