Role of Media in Creating Body Image Issues

2014

This paper will look at different magazines and how they affect the viewer's about their own body images. The media has given off an unnatural standard of what people should look like, and people have become self-conscious because of that. This paper will also look at two journal articles that analyze the psychology aspect of how men and women are persuade by the media. Also, the author will analyze her own life experience with eating disorders and struggles with her relationship with food.

Topic is media influence on body image, write a Methods section that is about 4 pages long where you will assess and evaluate the methods of research. To understand the connection between media use and body dissatisfaction, we have to juxtapose media factors such as television and social comparisons with media figures with other environmental factors (peer and parental attitudes) to examine their connections to internalization of the thin ideal and body dissatisfaction. The facts are the same in every part of the world, as a result of globalization we provide and receive the same information. In this way we can outline for example some certain things that are repeated in every corner of the social world. Thin models and actresses appear to be the standardin today's media, ever-present on television, and in magazines, movies,and Internet sites. Advertisements targetingyoung women feature thin and beautiful models in desirable circumstances in order to sell clothing, accessories, and other products. There is a mediated normfor body image in present-day culture, and it is characterized by bodies that are extremely thin. This mediated thin-ideal is present in mainstream media, and mainstream media are a source women turn to for information about how to look. Consequently, women who are heavy viewers of thin-ideal media may develop the attitude that thinness is socially desirable, experience greater body dissatisfaction, and engage in weight loss behaviors and cosmetic surgery in an attempt to measure up to the standard they observe. Additionally, there exists a weight prejudice in our society that is reinforced not only by media, but also by social interactions with peers and parents. Thinness often has a very positive connotation, one that denotes success and social desirability .Attractive people achieve more in our society; they are viewed as more successfuland happier with their lives. Therefore, some women may see their body shape and weight as a sort of " measuring stick " of social value. Method taken from the American Communication Journal 2012 SPRING (Volume 14, Issue 2) Procedure Participants were drawn from communication courses at a large southeastern university and offered course credit for participation. Participants in two courses were given a Web address for completing an approximately 15-minute survey via their course website. Online results were filtered such thatsurveys with a completion time of less than seven minutes were discarded due to fidelity concerns. Additionally, participants from twoother courses completed a paper-andpencilversion of the survey under researcher supervision.Independent samples t-tests comparing the online and in-class samples' responses for the independent and dependent variables revealed no significant differences. Participants The survey was distributed to 417 undergraduate students. Of the 417 participants, 68.3% were female. For the purpose of this study, only female results were used for analysis (n=285).The age of the female sample ranged from 18 to 37 (M=20.0, SD=2.22). The ethnic makeup of the female sample included 65.7% Caucasian, 17.7% Latino, 5.8% African American, 4.9% Asian, and 7% multiracial or other.

We all have a body image. We all have feelings about the way we look. We have ideas and feelings about how others think about our looks. Your overall body image can range from very positive to very negative. We do not develop our body image all on our own. The people around us and our culture strongly influence it. We get both positive and negative messages about our bodies from family and friends all the time, starting from when we’re very young. We also get messages about body image from television, magazines, films, and other media. Many of the beliefs we have about the way women and men “should” look come from the models and celebrities we see in the media.

This study attempts to examine the connection between media use and body dissatisfaction by juxtaposing the media with the internalfactor of self-esteem and other social factors such as peer and parental attitudes. A sample of 285 female undergraduates completed measures of media exposure, comparisons with media figures, self-esteem, parental and peer attitudes toward body shape, and peer comparisons, as well as internalization of the thin-ideal and body dissatisfaction measures. Overall, comparison to media figures was associated with internalization of the thin ideal butnot as strongly as peer attitudes and self-esteem. Contrastingly, peer comparisons and self-esteem were observed to be the strongest indicators of body dissatisfaction. Furthermore,social/environmental influences and self-esteem proved to be the strongest indicators of body dissatisfaction, which suggeststhat the indirect effect of media messages on body dissatisfaction is an important area for further examination.

Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 2009

Body image has emerged as a core aspect of mental and physical well-being. informed by sociocultural theory, a rapidly growing body of research addresses the question of whether body perfect ideals in the mass media are a core risk factor for negative body image, particularly in women. this work has moved beyond assessments of whether or not negative exposure effects occur so that significant progress has been made toward identifying diverse factors that make individuals more or less vulnerable to body perfect ideals in the media. this special issue examines and extends this work in various ways. it offers a critical analysis of the evidence base for a causal link between media and body image. it presents new findings which support a qualified and complex picture of media effects or influences, highlighting the importance not only of individual differences, but also psychological processes, related to self and identity. thus, it aims to contribute toward a more theoretically informed understanding of vulnerability factors through a focus on self, identification with the thin ideal, and related processes. It is hard to overstate the significance of body image as a research area at the interface of social and clinical psychology. Body dissatisfaction, the experience of negative thoughts and esteem about one's body, is linked to a range of physical and mental health problems, including disordered eating, obesity, body dysmorphic disorder, depression, or low self-esteem (cf., Cash & Pruzinsky, 2002; Polivy & Herman, 2002; Thompson, 2004). It is also implicated in the increasing use of body-shaping behaviors with potentially unhealthy consequences, such as cosmetic surgery, unbalanced diet regimes, or steroid abuse (cf.,

This chapter considers the role of mass media in people's perceptions of beauty. We summarize the research literature on the mass media, both traditional media and online social media, and how they interact with psychological factors to impact appearance concerns and body image. There is a strong support for the idea that traditional forms of media affect perceptions of beauty and appearance concerns by leading women to internalize a very slender body type as ideal or beautiful. Rather than simply being passive recipients of unrealistic beauty ideals communicated to them via the media, many individuals actually seek out idealized images in the media. Finally, we review what is known about the role of social media in impacting society's perception of beauty and notions of idealized physical forms. Social media are more interactive than traditional media and the effects of self-presentation strategies on perceptions of beauty have just begun to be studied. This is an emerging area of research that is of high relevance to researchers and clinicians interested in body image and appearance concerns.

2024

Background: Body esteem, reflecting individuals' feelings about their bodies, varies by gender and involves cognitive evaluations and emotional responses. Influences include self-esteem, body image, and societal standards, impacting social anxiety. Scales like BES and BESAA measure satisfaction with weight, appearance, and perception of others' evaluations. This study explores media exposure and anthropometric effects on body esteem and personality development. Materials and Methods: 258 subjects (108 males, 150 females) participated in this cross-sectional observational study at a medical college, approved by the Ethics Committee. Volunteers aged 18-25 proficient in English were included. Height, weight, and BMI were recorded using a stadiometer with a weighing scale, alongside Body Surface Area (BSA) calculated using the Du Bois formula. Subjects completed a Google form on media usage, influence, and the Body-Esteem Scale for Adolescents and Adults (BESAA), assessing appearance, weight, and attribution perceptions. BESAA, developed by Mendelson, Mendelson, and White, comprises 23 Likert-scale questions. Responses were analyzed using Google Sheets, Excel, and DATAtab software. Result: Increased BMI and media influence correlate with decreased satisfaction with weight and appearance in females. Females spending more time on media report a greater influence on self-perception compared to males. In males, age and height positively influence appearance satisfaction, while increased media exposure correlates with lower satisfaction with weight and appearance. Across genders, heightened satisfaction with appearance amplifies pressure from others' evaluations, fostering self-objectification. These findings emphasize the need for interventions promoting media literacy and positive body image to mitigate societal pressures on body esteem. Conclusion: Multifaceted policy actions, including media literacy in schools, regulating media content, and promoting body diversity, are vital for addressing body esteem. School-based interventions and increased mental health support play key roles in fostering positive body image.

Many studies have proven the existence of a connection between the body image dissatisfaction and the exposure to images of an ideal body which is highly promoted in traditional mass media. The consumption of media content has grown exponentially lately due to the outburst of new media which allow the access to these whenever and wherever. Therefore, the exposure, as duration and volume, to such messages that promote ideal of the human body has grown. Does this growth have a significant impact on the level of dissatisfaction towards one's self-image? Are the new media a higher risk factor compared to the traditional media in developing certain disorders regarding the body dissatisfaction? The present study, based on a review of the existing data, tries some possible answers to these questions.

Fashion, Industry and Education, 2017

This study investigated how exposure to thin-ideal images affects social physical anxiety and body-esteem in relation to individual levels of self-consciousness. A survey questionnaire was administered to a convenience sample of 119 female college students. Sixty-seven of the 119 participated in a posttest session. The mean comparisons of social physique anxiety and body-esteem scores between pretest and posttest were conducted; no significant results were found. However, when participants were divided into two separate self-consciousness groups (high vs. low), the effect of media exposure on social physique anxiety were significant.