Effect of Exposure to Television Commercials on the Body Image and Self-Esteem of Female Adolescents

Abstract

Introduction: This study investigated the effects of exposure to television commercials and magazines on the perceived body image and self-esteem of female adolescents. Young girls are becoming increasingly aware of their body image through the image of models in advertising, and imagecentered ideals portrayed in the media. Methods: Sixty female secondary school students between the age of 12 and 16 years participated in this experimental study. The study made use of the between-subject design by dividing the sixty participants into two groups of thirty students each for experimental and control categories. This was done using the simple random sampling of odd-even method without replacement. Two validated scales were employed to measure the study variables. The Rosenberg self-esteem scale and the Franzoi's body image scale with reliability coefficients as high as 0.78 and 0.83 respectively. Results: Two hypotheses were raised and tested. Results show there is a significant difference between exposure to media and female body image (t = 21.82, df = 58, p = 0.05), and self-esteem (t = 18.59, df = 58, p = 0.05). The second hypothesis was also retained. It showed a positive and significant relationship between body image and self-esteem. Conclusion: The study revealed that media exposure has effects on body image and self-esteem of female adolescents. Concern with appearance is not just an aberration of modern western culture because every phase in history has had its own standards of what is and is not beautiful.