In the eye of the beholder: Thin-ideal media affects some, but not most, viewers in a meta-analytic review of body dissatisfaction in women and men.

Abstract

The issue of thin-ideal (or muscularity ideal for males) media effects on viewers continues to be debated and discussed within the scientific community. Many scholars have concluded that thin-ideal media can have an appreciable effect on viewers. More recently several scholars have contested this issue suggesting that media effects may be small to negligible or limited to groups of individuals already at risk for body dissatisfaction. The current meta-analysis, the most comprehensive to date with 204 studies, sought to examine the effects of thin or muscular media ideals on men and women in experimental, correlational, and longitudinal studies. Outcomes included general body dissatisfaction, restrictive eating, and symptoms of eating disorders. Results indicate little evidence for media effects in males. Effects were minimal for most females as well although some evidence suggested that women with preexisting body dissatisfaction may be primed by media ideals, particularly in experimental studies. Little evidence emerged for ethnic differences or differences across media types. However, some evidence emerged that publication bias issues may be inflating effect size estimates in some areas of study. Further, contrary to expectations, effect sizes were generally smaller for child samples than for adult and college student samples. Taken together, it is concluded that media effects are generally minimal and limited to those with preexisting body dissatisfaction. The evidence further did not support substantive links between media use and eating disorder symptoms.

Does Media Literacy Mitigate Risk for Reduced Body Satisfaction Following Exposure to Thin-Ideal Media?

“…The findings of this study add to the body of evidence suggesting that individuals are differentially affected by exposure to thin-ideal media (Ferguson 2013). Of most interest are the novel findings relating to media literacy that show contrasting effects for participants with high and low levels of this protective factor.…”

“…Stability, or even improvement in body satisfaction following thin-ideal media exposure, has been observed (Durkin and Paxton 2002;Knobloch-Westerwick and Crane 2012). Authors have argued that effects are weak (Holmstrom 2004) or apparent only for those with existing vulnerability (Ferguson 2013). The aim of this study was to examine factors that predict change or stability in body satisfaction in early adolescent girls following exposure to thin-ideal media.…”

“Appearance potent”? A content analysis of UK gay and straight men's magazines

“…In addition, several meta-analyses of experimental studies have concluded that acute exposure to lean and muscular images of men leads to increases in body dissatisfaction (Barlett et al, 2008;Blond, 2008;Ferguson, 2013), as well as depressed mood, disordered eating and other related health problems (Hausenblas et al, 2013) for some men. This evidence and research highlights the appearance potency (e.g., via its resultant effects on men's body dissatisfaction) of appearance ideal and sexualized media content.…”

“…Future research could usefully employ then Elliott and Elliott's (2005) 'readership-response' method (in which a participant guides the researcher through their responses to media). In addition to employing other qualitative techniques to better understand men's experiences of the media, given that consumption is a reciprocal, complex and highly individualized process (Elliott & Elliott, 2005;Ferguson, 2013;Wykes & Gunter, 2005). …”

The Association between Sexist Games and Diminished Empathy Remains Tenuous: Lessons from Gabbiadini et al. (2017) and Gabbiadini et al. (2016) Regarding Sensationalism and Accuracy in Media Research

“…One could actually make the argument from this study that it is better to use sexualized avatars so long as they do not have one's own face. However, both studies in reality have potential flaws such as rather blatant demand characteristics, a problem unfortunately common to media/ body image research (Ferguson 2013a;Want 2014;Whyte et al 2016).…”