Hd. Posavac et al., EXPOSURE TO MEDIA IMAGES OF FEMALE ATTRACTIVENESS AND CONCERN WITH BODY-WEIGHT AMONG YOUNG-WOMEN, Sex roles, 38(3-4), 1998, pp. 187-201
Citations number
29
Categorie Soggetti
Psychology, Social","Women s Studies","Psychology, Developmental
Despite the popular belief that the thin standard of female attractive
ness currently presented in the media is a primary contributor to the
high level of concern with body weight among women, experimental studi
es have not shown that exposure to media images increases women's weig
ht concern. Three experiments are reported demonstrating that exposure
to media images does often result in increased weight concern among w
omen, but that body dissatisfaction, a stable personality characterist
ic, is a moderator of vulnerability to this effect. Although most wome
n reported higher weight concern when exposed to media vs. neutral ima
ges, women with low initial body dissatisfaction did not. In addition,
this research suggests that negative effects on weight concern may re
sult from even passive exposure to media images, but that exposure to
realistic attractiveness is less likely to cause increased weight conc
ern. The ethnicity of the participants in these studies reflected that
of the local population, with over 90% white, The nonwhite participan
ts primarily belonged to one of the following groups; Asian, Pacific I
slander Latino.