scholarly journals Being Successful and Being Thin: The Effects of Thin-Ideal Social Media Images With High Socioeconomic Status on Women's Body Image and Eating Behaviour

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei Qi ◽  
Lijuan Cui

Social media has outpaced traditional media to be the most popular sociocultural channel to transmit thin-ideal images, an established trigger for body image concerns and disordered eating in women. With an experimental design, the present research first demonstrated that exposure to thin images on social media threatened women's body image and increased their unhealthy food consumption (Study 1). However, given that thin images posted on social media are usually from wealthier people, the present research hypothesised that it may not be the body shape but the perceived socioeconomic status (SES) of images that indeed have negative effects on women. By manipulating the perceived SES of thin images and incorporating a baseline control group (Study 2), the present research provided causal evidence for the hypothesis by indicating that viewing thin images with parallel-perceived SES could significantly buffer undesirable thin-ideal effects on self-objectification and food intake. Therefore, future research needs to pay more attention to the role of SES in the thin media images literature.

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (7) ◽  
pp. 1546-1564 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Cohen ◽  
Jasmine Fardouly ◽  
Toby Newton-John ◽  
Amy Slater

Body-positive content on social media aims to challenge mainstream beauty ideals and encourage acceptance and appreciation of all body types. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of viewing body-positive Instagram posts on young women’s mood and body image. Participants were 195 young women (18–30 years old) who were randomly allocated to view either body-positive, thin-ideal, or appearance-neutral Instagram posts. Results showed that brief exposure to body positive posts was associated with improvements in young women’s positive mood, body satisfaction and body appreciation, relative to thin-ideal and appearance-neutral posts. In addition, both thin-ideal and body-positive posts were associated with increased self-objectification relative to appearance-neutral posts. Finally, participants showed favourable attitudes towards the body positive accounts with the majority being willing to follow them in the future. It was concluded that body-positive content may offer a fruitful avenue for improving young women’s body image, although further research is necessary to fully understand the effects on self-objectification.


2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (11) ◽  
pp. 4311-4328 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jasmine Fardouly ◽  
Elise Holland

This online experimental study examined the impact of viewing disclaimer comments attached to idealized social media images on 18- to 25-year-old American women’s ( N = 164) body dissatisfaction, mood, and perceptions of the target. Furthermore, this study also tested whether thin ideal internalization or appearance comparison tendency moderated any effect. Viewing idealized images taken from social media had a negative influence on women’s body image, with or without the presence of disclaimers. Disclaimer comments also had no impact on women’s mood. They did, however, impact perceptions of the target, with women forming a less positive impression of the target if she attached disclaimer comments to her social media images. Thus, the results of this study suggest that the use of disclaimer comments or labels on social media may be ineffective at reducing women’s body dissatisfaction.


Author(s):  
Janet M. Liechty

Mass media images both reflect and transmit sociocultural norms and stereotypes about the body, such as appearance standards;, and skills of resistance are needed to counteract adverse effects. This chapter summarizes key findings on media exposure in children and youth, effects on body image, and resistance to those effects. It also explores the role of positive body image and embodiment and the emerging role of positive emotions and rest in strengthening capacity for resilience. The construct resilience and the metaphor resistance are discussed in light of the need to replace body-objectifying cognitive schemas with new body-protective schemas, metaphors, and constructs better aligned with positive embodiment and flourishing. The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions and objectification theory are used as frameworks to discuss connections between resistance and resilience toward harmful media images and messages, positive emotions, and positive body image and embodiment. Implications for prevention and future research are discussed.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Juyeon Park ◽  
Jennifer Paff Ogle

AbstractWe explored how viewing one’s anthropometric virtual avatar would affect the viewer’s self-body perception through the comparative evaluation of self-concepts—self-esteem and self-compassion, within the framework of allocentric lock theory. We recruited 18 female adults, aged 18–21, who identified themselves to have some level of body image concerns, and who had had no clinical treatment for their body image. Participants were randomly assigned either to the experimental or control group. The experimental group participated in both body positivity program and virtual avatar program, whereas the control group attended the body positivity program, only. The results affirmed that the body positivity program served as a psychological buffer prior to the virtual avatar stimulus. After the virtual avatar experience, the participants demonstrated self-acceptance by lowering their expectation on how they should look like. The findings from exit interviews enriched the quantitative results. This study verified the mechanism of the altered processing of the stored bodily memory by the egocentric sensory input of virtual avatars, and offered practical potential of the study outcomes to be applied in various emerging fields where novel applications of virtual 3D technology are sought, such as fashion e-commerce.


1971 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward T. Auer ◽  
Audrey G. Senturia ◽  
Moisy Shopper ◽  
Ralph L. Biddy

This report deals with the findings from a study of twenty-eight children, all of whom had ventricular septal defects and were studied by the same cardiovascular team. One-half of the group had a surgical procedure for correction of the defect. The study investigated three problems in children with ventricular septal defect ( VSD). (1) Do children with surgical intervention for VSD show greater impairment of intellectual functioning than non-operated children? (2) Do children with surgical intervention show greater emotional disturbance than non-operated children? (3) Do children with surgical intervention show greater alteration of body image than do non-operated children? Data were collected using questionnaires, family interviews, subject interviews, medical records, school reports, physicians' reports and Human Figure Drawings, both inside and outside the body. The findings conclude that ( a) operated children do demonstrate significantly more impairment of intellectual functioning; ( b) there was no significant difference in the incidence of emotional disturbances between the two groups but that these twenty-eight children with VSD were more similar emotionally to children in a psychiatric clinic group than in a control group; and ( c) the only indication of altered body image was found in the greater frequency with which bones were drawn by the operated group.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 319-341
Author(s):  
Ruvira Arindita

Previous researches showed that there is relation between body image satisfaction and depression in perinatal period. Given this fact, it is important to educate and find ways to enhance mothers’ postpartum self-esteem and body satisfaction. For the last decade body image literature has risen and brought to new discussion about body positivity. This research focuses on women’s body positivity campaign presented by Mothercare called #BodyProudMums. The objective of this research is to identify the storytelling elements used to promote women’s body positivity campaign and whether the issue creates good brand story for Mothercare. The concepts used are body positivity, postpartum, brand storytelling, and social media with qualitative content analysis as research method. The unit of analysis are ten posts of #BodyProudMums campaign on @mothercareuk, while the samples are three randomly chosen posts. This research notes that the body positivity messages of body appreciation, body acceptance, and love, as well as broad conceptualization of beauty are carried out by the elements of storytelling namely: basic plots (the quest), archetype (the change master) with the following story objectives: communicating who they are, fostering collaboration, transmitting values and sparking action. There are only three out of four elements of good brand story present on the campaign. However, the absence of humor element is justified because of the nature of the postpartum story in which it shares mothers’ hardship and how they finally cope with it. Therefore, it can be said that the issue of mothers’ body positivity creates good brand story for Mothercare. Key words: positive body image, postpartum, brand storytelling, social media


SAGE Open ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 215824401769132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Itisha Nagar ◽  
Rukhsana Virk

Media, in its diverse forms, has become a powerful tool for construction and portrayal of the “shoulds, oughts, and musts” of a woman’s body. As a result of “thinning” of beauty ideals in the media, the real woman finds the representations of ideal woman to be increasingly unattainable. This exploratory study examined the effect of acute media images for a sample of young adult Indian woman ( N = 60). A 2 (intervention group) × 2 (time) mixed-group design was used where half the participants were presented with thin-ideal media images, whereas the other half were presented with control images. The participants were examined on body image dissatisfaction, thin-ideal internalization, and self-esteem. Results of the study indicate a significant increase in thin-ideal internalization and body dissatisfaction and a significant decrease in self-esteem scores as a result of exposure to the thin-ideal media images. The findings of the study indicate that, similar to their counterparts in Europe and North America, young urban Indian women experience body image disturbances when exposed to thin-ideal images. The findings have been examined in light of the spread of global media and homogenization of beauty standards among non-Western countries.


Author(s):  
Tracy L. Tylka

A theme of broadly conceptualizing beauty has emerged in interviews of adolescent and adult women who espouse a positive body image. Broadly conceptualizing beauty is perceiving many looks, appearances, and body sizes/shapes as beautiful and drawing from inner characteristics (e.g., confidence) when determining an individual’s beauty. This chapter first discusses the relevance of broadly conceptualizing beauty to theory, research, and practice on girls’ and women’s positive embodiment. Next, this chapter presents the Broad Conceptualization of Beauty Scale (BCBS), which assesses women’s attitudes toward other women’s beauty. The BCBS has been shown to yield evidence of reliability and validity among community samples of women. It can also be combined with an item from the Body Appreciation Scale-2, which assesses self-beauty, to obtain a more comprehensive assessment of women’s tendency to broadly conceptualize beauty (i.e., within themselves and others). The chapter ends by discussing future research and clinical considerations for this construct.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 40
Author(s):  
Arman Hj Ahmad ◽  
Izian Idris ◽  
Regina Moy Li Jing

Introduction: With the rise and fall of many communication platforms embedded into our everyday lives and the on-going maturity of the digitalization era, social media usage has tremendously increased over the past decade. The purpose of this research is to identify to what extent self-esteem and the influence of friends’ impact children's perception of their body image through social media and how powerful social media in influencing the body image of children.Methodology: The theoretical implication of this study is to expand the usage of Signalling theory, Sociocultural theory and Social Comparison theory towards better explaining children’s behaviours and the factors that impact children view of their body image. 282 children were recruited using the snowball sampling technique and data collected were analysed using Smart-PLS to see the impacts and relationship between all variables.Results: This study found that the self-esteem and friends do impacts body comparison on social media. However, the self-esteem is negatively correlated. The study also identified that there is a significance direct relationship between the direct impacts of self-esteem and friends towards the body image. On the other hand, the social media is found to have no direct impact on body image.Conclusion/- and Recommendations: This study provides a better insight for the government on the importance of regulation of advertisements particularly via social media and for the society at large to create a more socially supportive environment for adolescents to communicate and help them grow their mind-set on the acceptable and realistic standards of beauty as well as contributes to the existing knowledge on the role of social media and adds knowledge to how powerful social media in giving impacts to body image among adolescences.


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