This study examined the relationship between college women's media use and two sets of variables (disordered-eating symptomatology and a set of related variables, including body dissatisfaction and drive for thinness) and assessed the relationship between college men's media use and their endorsement of thinness for themselves and for women. We expected to find consumption of thinness-depicting and thinness-promoting (TDP) media related to disordered eating and thinness endorsement, with the social learning process of modeling accounting for the relationships. For women, media use predicted disordered-eating symptomatology, drive for thinness, body dissatisfaction, and ineffectiveness. For men, media use predicted endorsement of personal thinness and dieting and select attitudes in favor of thinness and dieting for women. Magazine reading was a more consistent predictor than television viewing. Several relationships remained significant when interest in fitness and dieting as media topics was partialled out of the analyses. Exposure to TDP media appears to be associated with a subsequent increase in eating disorder symptomatology. Selective exposure to these media based on initial interest in fitness and dieting as media topics is not a viable alternative explanation for this association.Anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa threaten the physical and mental health of an alarming number of women today. Anorexia nervosa is a potentially lifethreatening disorder characterized by the refusal to eat enough to maintain body weight over a minimal norm for age and height, as well as an intense fear of gaining weight, body image disturbances, and eventual amenorrhea (temporary cessation of menstruation). Bulimia nervosa is a related disorder
Abstract— Overweight in childhood sets the stage for a lifelong struggle with weight and eating and raises the risk of health problems, such as obesity, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, sleep apnea, and heart disease. Research from multiple disciplinary fields has identified scores of contributing factors. Efforts to integrate these factors into a single “big picture” have been hampered by the challenges of constructing theoretical models that are both comprehensive and developmentally adaptable. This article reviews select genetic and environmental factors influencing childhood overweight and obesity, then explicates an ecological model mapping these and other factors. The Six‐Cs model extends previous theoretical work on childhood weight imbalance by acknowledging dimensions of factors specific to heredity as well as the environment, to activity as well as nutrition, to resources and opportunities as well as practices, and to development from birth through adolescence. This article concludes by discussing the model’s policy relevance and identifying important next steps for transdisciplinary research concerning child overweight and obesity.
Snack, convenience, and fast foods and sweets continue to dominate food advertisements viewed by children. Advertised foods exceed RDVs of fat, saturated fat, and sodium, yet fail to provide RDVs of fiber and certain vitamins and minerals.
Recent surveys have suggested that sports media exposure may be linked to adolescents' body perceptions. This study tested this relationship from the perspective of objectification theory (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997) by surveying and experimenting with 426 adolescent females aged 10-19. Sports magazine reading predicted greater body satisfaction among older adolescents, regardless of whether they participated in sports. Self-objectification in adolescents of all ages predicted mental health risks including body shame, disordered eating, and depression. Participants also viewed a video depicting men's sports, women's lean sports, or women's nonlean sports. For White participants, watching lean sports increased self-objectification, whereas for participants of color, watching nonlean sports had the same effect. Discussion focuses on self-objectification in adolescents and how cultural differences in the female body ideal are reflected in portrayals of female athletes.The past decade has witnessed a veritable explosion of research on the effects of thin-ideal mass media on viewers' body perceptions. Most of these studies offer consistent evidence that exposure to thin-ideal television programs and magazines is associated with problematic body perceptions in adolescent and adult females, including body dissatisfaction, distortions in body image, internalization of the thin ideal, and the drive for thinness
A survey of 303 first- to third-grade children measured relationships between (a) television viewing and interpersonal attraction (IA) to television characters and (b) fat stereotyping, body shape standards, and eating disorder symptomatology. Television viewing predicted an increased tendency among males to stereotype a fat female target and also predicted increased eating disorder symptomatology among participants of both genders. IA to thin television characters was not a consistent predictor of thinness-favoring cognitions and behaviors, but IA to average-weight characters was a significant negative predictor for female participants. Discussion focuses on the need for continued research on the relationship between media exposure, ideal-body stereotype internalization, and eating disorder symptomatology in child populations.
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