BODY-IMAGE AND BODY SHAPE IDEALS IN MAGAZINES - EXPOSURE, AWARENESS, AND INTERNALIZATION

Three aspects of a sociocultural influence on appearance-media exposur e, awareness of societal ideals, and internalization of sociocultural messages-were assessed in college females (75% White, 7% Black, 10% Hi spanic, 7% Asian or Pacific Islander, and 1% other) and related to mea sures of body image disturbance, eating dysfunction, and overall self- esteem. The exposure variable consisted of an empirically derived inde x of coded body shape images fr om magazines specifically selected bec ause of their high readership in the tested sample of females. Awarene ss of societal pressures regarding appearance and internalization of t hese messages were measured with the two subscales of the Sociocultura l Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire. Correlational and regres sion analyses failed to find any relationship between simple exposure and indices of body image, eating dysfunction, and self-esteem. Awaren ess of societal pressures was a significant predictor in regression an alyses; however; internalization of social standards of appearance acc ounted for significant and substantial levels of variance beyond that explained by awareness. The findings are discussed in light of recent cognitive-behavioral and psychoeducational interventions for body imag e disturbance.