Body Image, Eating Disorders, and the Media - ResearchGate (PDF)

Body Image, Eating Disorders, and the Media Marjorie J. Hogan, MDa,b, Victor C. Strasburger, MD, FAAP*c aDepartment of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota School of Medicine, 420 Delaware Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA bDepartment of Pediatrics, Hennepin County Medical Center, 701 Park Avenue, Minneapolis, MN 55415, USA cDepartments of Pediatrics and Family and Community Medicine and Division of Adolescent Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, University of New Mexico School of Medicine, MSC10 5590, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA Adolescence is a time of tremendous change in physical appearance as both boys and girls move through puberty and become accustomed (or not) to their new body shape and size. Thus, body image is a major concern of teenagers. “Ado- lescents’ development of their closely linked body image and self-concept can be particularly challenging because of the diverse, rapid, and significant changes that are heightened during this period.”1 Conventional wisdom maintains that dissatisfaction with body image seems to increase among female adolescents and decrease among males through the teen years,2 but recent community surveys suggested that almost half (46%) of teen girls and even a startling 26% of boys are unhappy with their body shape and size; only 12% and 17%, respectively, reported liking their appearance.3,4 Obviously, this is alarming, because “body dissatisfaction is associated with high levels of subjective distress, unhealthy weight control behaviors and extreme meth- ods of altering appearance, such as cosmetic surgery and steroid use.”5 WHAT IS BODY IMAGE, AND HOW IS IT CONSTRUCTED? Body image is a merging of one’s outer appearance with perceptions derived from personal and cultural factors1; body image is a “multidimensional construct that is influenced by biological, psychologic, and social factors.”1 Thus, an adolescent constructs her or his body image in many ways, incorporating input from family, peers, and media.6 Pressure to emulate the Western body ideal, ultra thin for women and muscular for men, comes from parents, friends, and the media (see Fig 1). Family influences play a major role in adolescent weight concerns. A prospective cohort study of 6770 girls and 5287 boys aged 9 to 14 years revealed that parents *Corresponding author. E-mail address: [email protected] (V. C. Strasburger). Adolesc Med 19 (2008) 521–546 Copyright © 2008 American Academy of Pediatrics. All rights reserved. ISSN 1934-4287  influenced the development of concerns about weight and the initiation of weight- control practices.6 An Internet-based eating disorder prevention program conducted with 455 college women found that parental negative comments about weight or shape was associated with lower self-esteem.7 Overweight teenagers are teased more often and are at greater risk of dissatisfaction with their bodies.7–9 Whatever the source of the comments, negative or teasing statements about weight “contribute to the development of excessive weight and body shape concerns, which is a risk factor for the development of eating disorders.”7 Teenagers believing that weight status is important to their mothers were more likely to think frequently about being thinner and about dieting in a large cross-sectional study of 11- to 18-year-old girls and boys.10 Overt messages from parents encouraging their daughters to lose weight predict an increased drive for thinness and higher likelihood of body dissatisfaction; direct messages were more influential than parental modeling of dieting behaviors.11 In adolescence, the primacy of peers is notable as teenagers move from a more family-centered sphere to one dominated by friends. Peers have shown influence on body image in some studies,1,12,13 but in others have shown negligible impact.6 In a large prospective study of almost 7000 girls aged 9 to 14 years, Field et al14 found peers to be highly influential on a teenager’s desire to lose weight; if a peer placed emphasis on thinness, purging or using laxatives to lose weight was more likely. Another study concluded that peer practices were predictive of an adolescent developing an eating disorder.15 For teenagers, acceptance by the peer group is important, and one study found weight-control practices to be related to those of peers, as well as being influenced by their mothers’ dieting behaviors.16 Shroff and Thompson17 found peer and media influences to exceed parental influence in terms of body image. One study revealed that friends and family give messages to boys to increase musculature and to girls to encourage weight loss. However, messages to boys decrease over time, whereas those to girls increase.18 Fig 1. A, Anna Kournikova ad for sports bras. A former tennis star, Anna Kournikova never won a major tennis tournament in her career yet outearned the Williams sisters because of her status as a sex symbol. B, “Are You Hot?” Men are frequently featured in the media for their muscular development. 522 M. J. Hogan, V. C. Strasburger / Adolesc Med 19 (2008) 521–546  The media (discussed in more detail later) clearly exert influence on body image (see Fig 2). Perhaps media, functioning as a “superpeer,”19 define the look and body shape to attain via images available to all teenagers in many venues, whether magazines, television programs, or film. “Hey, kids, this is the way we all should look!” Teenagers today face a growing discrepancy between their bodies and mediated role models. Obesity in all age groups is increasing at alarming rates; 17% of American adolescents are now overweight or obese (see Fig 3).20 Models used to weigh 8% less than the average woman; they now weigh 23% less.21 Borzekowski and Bayer introduced the concept of “goodness of fit’ between self-evaluation of one’s body, one’s expectations for the physical self, and the Fig 2. People magazine. 523 M. J. Hogan, V. C. Strasburger / Adolesc Med 19 (2008) 521–546  perceived evaluations of others.”1 Teen girls face a discrepancy between the realities of their own bodies and those they see in the media or reflected in the expectations of friends and family members. By the “tween” or early-adolescent years, fully 20% to 50% of girls feel too fat and 40% consider themselves over- weight, yet many of these girls are normal by medical standards.1,22,23 WHY IS BODY IMAGE IMPORTANT? Adults, including parents, pediatricians, and other adults, want adolescents to have a healthy body image. Eating disorders, including anorexia and bulimia, and obesity seem to be associated with a disordered body image in adolescents. All are on the rise.20,24 Less prevalent but also alarming is the increase of those seeking cosmetic surgery to correct perceived flaws.5,25 A cross-sectional study of �6200 girls and �4200 boys revealed use of potentially harmful supplements and anabolic steroids as other dangerous complications of disordered body image.26 In a study of 16 862 children and young teenagers, contemplation of smoking initiation was positively related to concerns about weight: “Adolescents are susceptible to society’s emphasis on slenderness and may initiate smoking as a weight control measure.”27 Fig 3. The prevalence of obesity continues to increase in the United States. Among adults, more are overweight or obese than normal weight.9 524 M. J. Hogan, V. C. Strasburger / Adolesc Med 19 (2008) 521–546  Adolescents confront daunting tasks as they move through puberty toward adult- hood. Establishing a healthy, positive view of one’s body is key to a successful transition. Researchers have found a wide array of harmful emotional outcomes associated with negative body image, including depression and poor self-esteem.28,29 HOW DO TEENAGERS USE MEDIA? Today’s adolescents live in a world surrounded and defined by media.30 They are heavy users of media (see Fig 4),31,32 many of which proffer unhealthy and unreal- istic body images for adolescent viewers. Television, Internet, music videos, maga- zines, and movies all feature unrealistic, unattainable icons of beauty and desirability.21 Traditional media, specifically television, occupies less time in teenagers’ lives today, supplanted largely by video games and the computer. Interactive sites such as Facebook and MySpace and the entertaining, often scintillating YouTube draw teen eyes and compete for leisure hours. Interactive sites allow teenagers to define themselves in a comfortable, positive fashion and communicate with friends. Interestingly, by posting photographs of themselves, adolescents put their desired look, face and body, on their Facebook page, so defining their chosen image. Magazines aimed at female teenagers are extremely popular and have increased in number and availability. An estimated 33 million adolescents spend more than $175 million annually on these magazines; content heavily emphasizes clothing and fashion, appearance, and dating.33 Teen-oriented magazines draw readers into articles and photographs, and some believe that the ultra-thin, ideal images in magazines are more accessible and believable to teenagers than those in other media, including television (see Fig 5).30 DO THE MEDIA AFFECT BODY IMAGE? The research says “yes.”34 Media images and messages offer powerful cues about how we need to look, what we need to eat, and what we must buy. Whether on the television, movie screen, or the front page of teen-focused magazines or People, we see graphically which bodies are beautiful, which shapes are “hot,” and who is successful or not (see Fig 6). We suffer through headlines about which young star is admitted to an eating-disorders program and who looks best in a bikini this season. For adolescents grappling with emerging pubertal changes, comparing themselves to the stars of stage and screen is unavoidable. One of the most important developments in communications research over the past decade has been interest in examining the role that media play in the health of women, specifically body image and eating disorders. The British Medical Association issued a landmark report on this subject (see Fig 7),35 and other experts have contributed to knowledge in this area.6,26,34,36,37 525 M. J. Hogan, V. C. Strasburger / Adolesc Med 19 (2008) 521–546  Almost 30 years ago, Kaufman38 examined eating behavior on prime-time television. In a content analysis, she determined that television characters were not happy in the presence of food. Food was rarely used to satisfy hunger but, rather, to bribe others or facilitate social interactions. Her conclusion was that television is obsessed with thinness: 88% of all television characters had a thin or average body build; obesity was confined to middle or old age; and being overweight routinely provided comic ammunition.38,39 More-recent researchers have found that shows appealing to adolescents feature characters below average in weight 94% of the time.40 Certainly, the combination of ubiquitous commercials for foods (mostly un- healthy) and advertising and programming emphasis on female beauty and thinness predictably lead to confusion and dissatisfaction for young viewers.34,41–44 Fig 4. A, In a typical day, percentage of 8- to 18-year-olds who spend more than 1 hour watching television, listening to music, etc. B, Which media young people use. 526 M. J. Hogan, V. C. Strasburger / Adolesc Med 19 (2008) 521–546  Fig 4 (continued). C, Differences in media use according to age. D, Relationship of bedroom media to time spent using media: a snapshot of preteens’ and teens’ media use. Teenagers spend more time with media than in any other leisure-time activity except for sleeping. (Copyright Kaiser Family Foundation. Used with permission.) 527 M. J. Hogan, V. C. Strasburger / Adolesc Med 19 (2008) 521–546  Others have suggested that situation comedies add to this dilemma, because thin female characters receive significantly more positive verbal comments from male characters than do heavier characters.45,46 A 1999 study reinforced the primacy of the thin-ideal female in television programs that are popular with young Fig 5. Cover of Seventeen magazine. 528 M. J. Hogan, V. C. Strasburger / Adolesc Med 19 (2008) 521–546  viewers. The thin females won positive comments from male characters; but the more female characters were dieting, the more they made negative comments about other women’s bodies and weight, consistent with low self-esteem.47 Historically, there has been an association between advertising and disordered body image and disordered eating. Interestingly, as advertisements for diet-food products increased on television between 1973 and 1991, a rise in eating disor- ders occurred as well.48 Similarly, studies have revealed that the increase in thin models and actresses from 1910 to 1930 and 1950 to 1980 was accompanied by an increase in disordered eating.49 Kilbourne21 wrote that the American diet industry tripled in the 1990s, from $10 to $36 billion per year. During the same decade, women’s magazines featured a dramatic increase in articles about dieting and exercise, far more than in men’s magazines.50,51 During this time, magazines Fig 6. Four covers of mainstream magazines. 529 M. J. Hogan, V. C. Strasburger / Adolesc Med 19 (2008) 521–546  Fig 7. Cover of a British Medical Association report. 530 M. J. Hogan, V. C. Strasburger / Adolesc Med 19 (2008) 521–546  aimed at adolescent girls more than tripled, and a majority of 15- to 18-year-old girls reported reading these magazines daily.52 Studies have shown that girls reading these fashion magazines compare themselves to models in the ads and articles and have more negative feelings about their own appearances.26,53,54 “Whether this is cause and effect or simply correlational is arguable.”34 The connection between the diet industry and the real world is complicated. Kil- bourne illustrated this with the example of a WeightWatchers ad showing a piece of pie with the caption: “Feel free to act on impulse.” Why would WeightWatch- ers encourage indulgence in Boston cream pie? It is “[b]ecause it is in their best business interest to fatten people up and then want them to diet or fail to lose weight so that their revenues will continue to grow.”21 A quick perusal of popular women’s magazines at the grocery store check-out counter gives testament to the dilemma: a cover boasts a story about the latest fad diet in big letters, while just beneath is a story about the 10 best, decadent chocolate desserts of the year, followed by a sure-fire way to tighten your abs and glutes in preparation for the summer season at the beach. The irony cannot be missed. The ideal of female beauty in America continues to shrink steadily. Researchers studied Playboy centerfolds and Miss America contestants over a 10-year period Fig 8. Trend in BMI of Miss America Pageant winners, 1922–1999. The gray horizontal line represents the World Health Organization’s BMI cutoff point for undernutrition (18.5). (Reproduced with permission from Rubinstein S, Caballero B. JAMA. 2000;283:1569; copyright © American Medical Association.) 531 M. J. Hogan, V. C. Strasburger / Adolesc Med 19 (2008) 521–546  and found that the body weight of these women was 13% to 19% below average.50,55 The BMI of aspiring Miss America contestants has declined from 22 in 1922 to �18 in 1999, the latter BMI indicating undernutrition.56 Almost 20 years ago, adolescent girls described their “ideal girl” as an almost impossible 5 feet 7 inches tall, weighing 100 lb, and with long blond hair and blue eyes57 (see Fig 8). “Evidence is increasing that there are tremendous pressures on today’s girls and young women to try to attain body shapes that are unhealthy, unnatural, and dictated by media norms.”35 Many scholars believe that this “internalization of the thin-ideal body image” has resulted in females in America being increasingly dissatisfied with their bodies, possibly leading to eating disorders.6,34,36,37,58–60 A 2004 study revealed that even movies aimed at a young audience, Cinderella or The Little Mermaid, for example, contain body-image–related themes.61 A disturbing study in Australia revealed that of 128 children aged 5 to 8 years, many wanted to be thinner by 6 years of age.62 In 2007, Australian researchers tested 265 primary school girls to determine if the importance of appearance relates to body dissatisfaction. They found that exposure to media and peer influence were negatively related to body esteem.63 Is There Solid Research That This Actually Occurs? A growing body of literature indicates an association between media portrayals of the ideal female body and disordered body image in viewers. As many as half of normal-weight adolescent girls consider themselves overweight and have tried to lose weight.64,65 All media subtypes (television, film, magazines, music videos) portray female characters with impossibly thin bodies, which puts pressure on adolescents to conform or be dissatisfied with their own looks6,26,37,44,54 (see Fig 2). Popular television comedies, including Ally McBeal and Friends, soap operas (popular with adolescent girls), music videos, and films aimed at teenagers may expose viewers to potential role models who actually suffer from eating disorders themselves.34,37 In a critical twist, overweight female characters tend to be criticized by male characters, whereas overweight male characters may make fun of themselves but do not engender negative comments from others.47 A study of 837 ninth-grade girls found that the number of hours watching music videos was associated with their feelings about the importance of appearance and their weight concerns.66 Similarly, girls watching a music video that emphasized appearance had more body dissatisfaction than those watching a neutral video.67 Clay et al53 found that exposing young girls to thin or average-sized models in magazines lowered self-esteem and body satisfaction. The authors of 3 meta- analyses68–70 examined the association between media exposure and body dis- satisfaction; only one study revealed no association.70 532 M. J. Hogan, V. C. Strasburger / Adolesc Med 19 (2008) 521–546  In What Ways Might Sociocultural Factors, Including Media Exposure, Play an Important Role in Body Image? There are 4 key components to the theory that media images and messages do influence the body image of young viewers.71 1. Although the “ideal” woman has gotten increasingly thinner over the past 2 decades, the real woman has actually gotten heavier.40,56 2. Thinness has become associated with social, personal, and professional success.72,73 3. Especially for teen girls, the thin look has become normative,35,73,74 which could relate to the superpeer concept.19 4. Adolescent girls and grown women have been led to believe that thinness can actually be attained easily.35,74 In 1997, Signorelli73 conducted a content analysis of girls in the media and made several relevant observations. Teen-oriented shows featured advertisements us- ing beauty as a product appeal in 56% of ads targeting females and 3% of ads targeting male viewers. Fully 56% of female characters in movies had their looks remarked on, and 70% of girls wanted to look like a television character (compared with 40% of boys). Half of those girls did something to change their appearance as a result. Women are often caught up in the trap of living in a culture in which they are expected to be the objects of the male gaze, but then feel the need to compare favorably with ultra-thin role models.75,76 Similarly, 2 literature reviews37,77 concluded that female viewers exposed to ultra- thin characters in the media are prone to idealize and internalize these models and, thus, become dissatisfied with their own bodies: this is “thin internalization.”77 Levine and Harrison37 built on the social-comparison theory,78 whereby media exposure leads to dissatisfaction with a viewer’s body, a drive to be thin, and, ultimately, down a pathway to disordered eating. This review revealed small but positive associations between media exposure and impact on body image. The social-comparison theory asserts that individuals tend to evaluate themselves through comparisons with others, maybe either upward (comparing to those considered superior or, possibly, thinner) or downward (the other is perceived as being inferior).30 In the case of media, with ultra-thin and glamorous characters, compar- isons for the average viewer would be upward: the models and celebrities in the media are quite different from the viewers’ self-appraisal, which leads to feelings of dissatisfaction and lower self-esteem.79 “Our upward social comparisons could compel us to eat in a disordered fashion and strive to be thin.”30 In a recent review, Cohen30 reviewed the current literature and examined the social-comparison theory78 but also introduced the relevance of Gerbner’s cul- tivation theory80 in the context of body dissatisfaction. The cultivation theory 533 M. J. Hogan, V. C. Strasburger / Adolesc Med 19 (2008) 521–546  simply “predicts that people who are more exposed to greater degrees of televi- sion will have attitudes that are more reflective of media realities, and less reflective of real-world social realities.”30 The author gave the apt example of an ultra-thin woman on television consuming junk food and not exercising; “in- complete information about the link between diet and fitness are communicated with the viewer.”30 She concluded, “Media exposure does seem to have an impact on body dissatisfaction, disordered eating, and drive for thinness.”30 The relationship is stronger for magazines than for television, both of which are “thin-depicting” media, but the former is a more engaging pastime.30 One study of college women showed that those who were concerned about their body shape judged thin celebrities as thinner than they were; however, those comfortable with their body shape judged the celebrities accurately.81 Field et al74 conducted a series of studies using a large database of 6770 adolescent girls aged 9 to 14 years. Girls wanting to look like characters on television, in movies, or in magazines were twice as likely to be concerned about weight, become constant dieters, or engage in purging behaviors.6,14,74 A longitudinal study revealed that television viewing pre- dicted thinner ideal body shapes and disordered eating 1 year later among 257 preteen girls,82 and a recent study of 11 000 adolescents, both male and female, found a concerning correlation between wanting to look like media role models and being more likely to use anabolic steroids or unproven protein supplements.26 A decade ago, Seventeen, Teen, and YM enjoyed readerships of �6 million young females52; subsequently, the teen-magazine market exploded, and Teen People, Elle Girl, Teen Vogue, and others appeared. All of these magazines define the look that is desirable, dictating that thin is good, thin with large breasts and small hips being best. One adolescent stated: “Everybody feels like they are not good enough, not pretty enough, not skinny enough . . .. Every time you open a magazine you always see beautiful people . . . you have to look good to be a good person.”83 Several studies have found a robust association between reading teen-oriented magazines and weight concerns and/or symptoms of eating disorders in girls.54,74,75,84,85 In a study of 548 middle and high school girls, Field et al74 found most of them to be dissatisfied with their body shape; 69% believed that their ideal body shape was influenced by magazines or other media images. The more frequently girls read fashion magazines, the higher the likelihood they had been on diets or started an exercise program to lose weight. The study authors concluded that “print media could serve a public health role by refraining from relying on models who are severely underweight and printing more articles on the benefits of physical activity.”74 An innovative study of college women found association between reading fash- ion magazines and symptoms of body dissatisfaction. Young women in a waiting room were provided either 4 fashion or 4 news magazines before answering a survey about their body image and dieting practices. Those who chose a fashion magazine reported more dissatisfaction with their weight, guilt associated with eating, and greater fear of getting fat.86 An ongoing meta-analysis of �20 534 M. J. Hogan, V. C. Strasburger / Adolesc Med 19 (2008) 521–546  experimental studies indicated that exposure to images of thin models causes an increase in a young woman’s negative feelings about her own body.87 Surveys have revealed, despite the participants’ actual body weight, exaggerated fears of obesity among adolescents.88,89 Viewers trust media, especially televi- sion,90 but media portrayals of the ideal woman are distorted, especially with today’s rising rates of overweight and obesity. With few exceptions, notably Rosanne Barr years ago and Queen Latifah more recently, there is a dearth of successful, charismatic overweight female media role models.34 In 1985, the BBC banned televising beauty pageants, labeling them “an anachronism.”91 In the world of high fashion, the use of ultraskinny models is being scrutinized, and in some situations models have been banned from the fashion runway.92 American media seem obsessed by the ups and downs the weight of popular film and television stars and models; “whether this degree of publicity about actresses’ (and models’) body weights is healthy or harmful remains to be tested.”34 Everyone follows Oprah’s struggles with weight vicariously. Is Everyone Susceptible? Body image and dissatisfaction with one’s body vary across ethnic and racial groups in America.1,79 Specifically, black female adolescents are “more tolerant of adipos- ity,” and Asian American college-age adolescents are less so.93,94 However, black young women who are dissatisfied with their body image may be at increased risk for unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections.95 One study revealed that ethnic identity did not mitigate the relationship between depression and body dissatisfaction for females,29 and a 2006 study suggested little difference in body dissat- isfaction among women self-identifying as black, Asian American, or Hispanic.96 There has been little research on factors of personal characteristics that may enhance body satisfaction. Some studies have suggested that positive relationships with parents or feeling supported by surrounding social network are likely buffers.97–99 Presnell et al speculated that “theoretically, cognitive factors such as attributional style or perceived control, which have been linked to depression and anxiety, may be associated with body dissatisfaction.”97 More research on resilience and protective factors for positive body image is needed. Similar to other harmful effects of media, including violence, heavy viewers and users of the plethora of media types may be at greater risk for body dissatisfaction simply because they see more images. More research is needed on vulnerability: which children and teenagers are at greater risk of internalizing media images and messages? Is It Just Girls, or Boys, Too? Although the bulk of research has involved females, males are clearly not immune to mediated images and messages. More research on male children and teenagers is 535 M. J. Hogan, V. C. Strasburger / Adolesc Med 19 (2008) 521–546