Media Influence on Drive for Thinness and Drive for Muscularity

Abstract

The present study investigated relationships between media influence (exposure, selfcomparison to media ideals and internalization of media messages, societal pressure to have the perfect body, using media as a source of information about how to achieve a certain body ideal) and drive for thinness and drive for muscularity in 311 male and female undergraduates at a university in the Rocky Mountain region of the United States. We hypothesized that drive for thinness and drive for muscularity in both women and men would relate to body comparison/ internalization, societal pressure, use of media for information, magazine consumption and television viewing. We also expected television and magazines would have different influences on men and women's drive for muscularity and drive for thinness. Finally, we hypothesized that societal pressure and using media as a source of information would mediate the relation between media exposure (number of magazines read, hours of television watched) and drive for thinness and drive for muscularity in women and men. Students completed surveys on-line. Results revealed using media as a source of information on how to attain the ideal body mediates the relationship between drive for thinness and media exposure in women. Overall, it seems that media and the internalization of general/ non-athletic body ideals may have an impact on drive for thinness in both men and women. Similarly, internalization of athletic body ideals may relate to drive for muscularity in both collegiate men and women in the U.S. Implications for counselors were discussed.

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“…Furthermore, all men, no matter the article they read, felt the most attractive man's body was slimmer than average. This pattern may support recent suggestions that the media are more greatly emphasizing being slim, in addition to toned, for men (Nemeroff et al, 1994;Pritchard & Cramblitt, 2014). The finding may also be a function of the types of silhouettes we used because the Gardner et al (2009) silhouette scales display a spectrum of underweight to overweight, whereas we were interested in body shape on a spectrum of slim to muscular.…”

“…The Western idealized man's body is lean, large, and strong with a Vshape from broad shoulders (Burlew & Shurts, 2013;Chia & Wen, 2010), defined chest, arm, and abdominal muscles (Bartlett, Vowels, & Saucier, 2008), and a lean waist (Ryan & Morrison, 2009). For women, body ideals prescribe they be exceptionally thin (Grabe et al, 2008;Nemeroff, Stein, Diehl, & Smilack, 1994;Stice, Maxfield, & Wells, 2002) and toned (Nemeroff et al, 1994;Pritchard & Cramblitt, 2014). Although people may not believe that media sources affect how they view themselves, research has been clear that media influence is strong.…”

The interaction of sociocultural attitudes and gender on disordered eating

“…This hypothesis was supported, which is congruent with the literature that has found higher rates of drive for muscularity in men (e.g., Kyrejito, Mosewich, Kowalski, Mack, & Crocker, 2008;McCreary, 2007). However, because of a lack of research investigating drive for muscularity in women, especially examining variations in how it is affected by other variables (Pritchard & Cramblitt, 2014), it is a new finding that women were also affected by their higher internalization of sociocultural appearance ideals to exhibit a higher drive for muscularity as well. Often most research investigating internalization for men and women choose the corresponding body ideal attitudes which "match" their gender for examination and neglect to examine other body ideals (e.g., Guđnadóttir & Garđarsdóttir, 2014).…”

“…Parallel to the lack of research for men and disordered eating, there is also a lack of research investigating muscularity ideals in women (Pritchard & Cramblitt, 2014). Drive for muscularity has been linked to the internalization of sociocultural muscularity ideals in men (Edwards et al, 2016).…”

Safety and efficacy of a novel high‐intensity focused electromagnetic technology device for noninvasive abdominal body shaping

“…The media-driven images of thin and muscular bodies lead to a high dissatisfaction rate of nonideal body type patients which may result in chronic depression. 1 Currently, up to 60.7% of men and 71.6% of women in US population are dissatisfied with their body size. 2 The desire for an easy solution to reduce fat and to improve the appearance of the abdomen is driving the market for body shaping procedures.…”