Television Images and Adolescent Girls Body Image Disturbance

Transcription

1 Journal of Communication, Spring 1999 Television Images and Adolescent Girls Body Image Disturbance by Renée A. Botta The impact of media images on adolescents body image and thin ideal endorsement has been consistently asserted in the body image literature, yet has remained inadequately tested. I used social comparison theory and critical viewing with a sample of 214 high school girls to predict adolescents body-image disturbance and thin ideal endorsement. Media variables accounted for 15% of the variance for drive for thinness, 17% for body dissatisfaction, 16% for bulimic behaviors, and 33% for thin ideal endorsement. Results suggest that body image processing is the key to understanding how television images affect adolescent girls body-image attitudes and behaviors. Conservative estimates suggest that 1 out of 100 females is anorexic and 3 out of 100 are bulimic (American Psychiatric Association, 1994). Further, the problem is more acute among adolescents and young adults. Anorexia and bulimia involve several behaviors and attitudes often referred to as body image, which is the loose, subjective representation of one s body (Slade, 1994). This image has a perception component (i.e., how a woman visualizes the size and shape of her body), an attitudinal component (i.e., what she thinks both cognitively and affectively about her body and how committed she is to a thin ideal), and the behavioral manifestations related to body image (e.g., restrained eating, bingeing and purging, excessive exercise and dieting). Body image disturbance is not limited to those clinically diagnosed with eating disorders (Myers & Biocca, 1992; Thompson, 1990). A continuum of attitudes and behaviors exists in which some are dangerously close to eating disorders without being clinically disordered. It seems important to study those who may be on the verge of eating disorders or have tendencies toward eating disorders if we are to Renée A. Botta (PhD, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1998) is assistant professor of communication at Cleveland State University. Her research interests include adolescents media use, processing, and effects. This article is based on dissertation research completed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison under the direction of Suzanne Pingree. A scholarship from the School of Human Ecology at UW- Madison helped fund the research. The author thanks the adolescents, teachers, and schools who made this project possible and worthwhile; Suzanne Pingree, Robert Hawkins, Joanne Cantor, Jeanne Meadowcroft, and Garrett O Keefe for their guidance; and the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments. Copyright 1999 International Communication Association 22

2 Body Image Processing understand what mechanisms might keep them from crossing the line into clinically disordered behaviors. The impact of media depictions on body image disturbance has been consistently asserted in the body image literature (Powell & Kahn, 1995; Slade, 1994), yet has remained inadequately tested. Media images have a potentially indirect effect by forming an unrealistically thin ideal, as well as a potentially direct impact on body image disturbance. Some researchers have claimed that sociocultural pressure to be thin is the strongest influence on body image (Thompson, 1992). Offering support to this notion is a study by Nassar (1988) in which the rate of eating disorders was found to be lower in non-western cultures where thinness was not particularly valued. McCarthy (1990) reviewed cross-cultural data on eating disorders and concluded that, all cultures that have eating disorders have the thin ideal. Further, no culture that does not have the thin ideal has eating disorders (p. 210). A culture s obsession with thin ideals is played out in the media via models and actresses who may have eating disorders themselves, who may have personal trainers to help them maintain a thin body, and whose bodies, as portrayed through modern airbrushing and camera-angle techniques, may not even be their own (Kilbourne, 1995; Lakoff & Scherr, 1984). A steady diet of stereotyped thin ideal images persists in media. In a content analysis of 33 television shows and 8 monthly magazines over the course of a year, fashion magazine photographs from 1901 to 1980, and films from 1932 to 1980, Silverstein, Perdue, Peterson, and Kelly (1986) detected a shift toward a slimmer ideal with a greater emphasis on thinness for women. Wiseman, Gray, Mosimann, and Athens (1992) analyzed several decades of Miss America Pageants and concluded that the ideal shape as presented by Miss America contestants is thin and becoming thinner. Concrete evidence is still necessary, however, to show that this existence of thin images and ideals has an effect on viewers. Adolescents are believed to be particularly vulnerable to the thin-promoting messages of the thin ideals because they are at a time in their lives when they are seeking outside information to form a self-identity (Ashbach, 1994; Freedman, 1984; Strasburger, 1995). Adolescents also are developing an increased cognitive capacity to process information (Fine, Mortimer, & Roberts, 1990; Keating, 1990). As such, many researchers have argued that the mass media have a direct impact on adolescents concept of an ideal body and on their body image (Slade, 1994). However, there is only a limited amount of research that actually tests that theory, most of which says more for mediating effects than it does for direct effects. At this point, the questions remain: What is the impact of these images? Do adolescents wrap images of the thin ideal around their bodies like a corset? Losing weight may not provide the relief they desire because the corset seems to grow tighter as they get thinner. If they cannot cut the strings, can they at least loosen the fit? An understanding of how adolescents are likely to approach media images provides some direction. Faber, Brown, and McLeod (1979) suggested how the various stages of adolescence impact adolescent television use for body image information. Implicit in Faber et al. s assertions is that the effects body image messages have on adolescents are dependent upon what perceptions and needs adolescents bring to the viewing experience and how they process body image 23

3 Journal of Communication, Spring 1999 information during those viewing experiences. These assertions, along with the notion of direct effects, remain inadequately tested. Review of Literature Research on Media s Impact on Body Image Disturbance In an experiment with 56 female high school students, Tan (1979) used cultivation theory to test the effects of a one-time exposure to 15 beauty commercials on the perception of physical attractiveness. He found that the girls who viewed beauty commercials were more likely to believe that physical attractiveness was important for them than did the girls who saw neutral commercials. Tan admitted a onetime exposure is not an adequate test of the additive effects that cultivation posits. However, he said that the results support the general theoretical model of cultivation because they supply evidence for the causal model proposed by cultivation. He added that, if a one-time exposure could result in attitude change, the possibility of long-term, additive effects was even greater. In another experimental design, Stice and Shaw (1994) showed 157 college women magazine photographs of ultrathin models, average models, or no models at all. They found that the thin photos increased the women s body dissatisfaction and depression. These photos did not have an impact on the women s endorsement of a thin ideal. They concluded that a one-time exposure was not enough to measure the impact of media exposure on women s endorsement of the ideal and suggested that it would be necessary for researchers to turn to correlational or longitudinal data with a cumulative additive-effects approach. Stice and Shaw argued for the importance of measuring outside forces that may mediate the impact of media depictions. They did not take into account how viewers process those images, which could mediate effects. In a third experimental design, Myers and Biocca (1992) tested the effects of body image programming and commercials on 76 college women s perceptions of their body sizes. They found that the one-time, 30-minute exposure had an effect on women s body-size perceptions in both directions. They defined body image programming and commercials as those that focus or center around the ideal, thin female body; use the thin, female body as a primary form of the visual message; and concentrate on the explicit representation of the ideal image of thinness (p. 119). The women who saw body image programming overestimated their body sizes to a greater extent than did the women exposed to neutral commercials and programming. However, whereas the women who saw body image commercials overestimated their body sizes, they did so to a lesser extent than did the women who saw neutral commercials and programming. Myers and Biocca concluded that women s body image is indeed elastic and to understand the effects of viewing it would be necessary to investigate how women process the images. In other words, body image processing can mediate the effects of television on body image. Stice, Schupak-Neuberg, Shaw, and Stein (1994) tested the correlations be- 24

4 Body Image Processing tween media exposure and the internalization of the thin ideal, but found no significant relationship. Their survey of 238 college women revealed that internalization of the thin ideal mediated the relationship between media exposure and eating disorders. They posited that outside forces affect the internalization of the thin ideal. Stice and his colleagues, however, also found an unexpected direct correlation between media exposure and eating disorders that they suggested could be explained by women s modeling of eating-disordered behavior presented in the media. To measure media exposure, they combined hours of television shows watched with the number of health and fitness and of beauty and fashion magazines read. It may be necessary to tease out the differences between magazines and television to understand the meaning of the relationship with eating disorders, particularly in relation to the existence of eating behaviors to be modeled and the latent versus manifest content that pertains to eating disorders. In other words, magazines and television may differ in their portrayals of behaviors and, therefore, viewers modeling of those behaviors. Also, the fact that Stice et al. (1994) did not find a relationship between media exposure and the internalization of the thin ideal could be because they tested it only through a total exposure media measure. Applying a comprehensive theoretical approach, which recognizes the various ways in which viewers process body images, could reveal the cumulative relationship between media exposure and the internalization of the thin ideal. Harrison and Cantor (1997) applied social learning theory in a study of college students to examine the separate impact of magazine and television exposure on body image disturbance. Overall television viewing was related to body dissatisfaction, but not to a drive for thinness or eating disorder behaviors. They found that consumption of what they called thinness depicting and thinness promoting media was related to a drive for thinness, but was not related to body dissatisfaction or to eating disorder behaviors. They found a closer relationship between magazines and eating-disordered behaviors than between television and such behaviors. They posited that this was because of information within the magazines about how to become thin (i.e., a more direct modeling component). Heinberg and Thompson (1992) used social comparison theory as an approach to the effects of others appearance on body image and eating disorders. For the 189 female undergraduates surveyed, celebrity comparisons were significantly linked to increased body dissatisfaction, increased drive for thinness, and increased bulimic behaviors. The studies conducted thus far reveal scattered pieces of the puzzle. Findings have not been consistent, in part, because no one theoretical approach is dominant for studying the effects of thin media images on body image and eating disorders. Media measures have also been inconsistent and somewhat general. At this point, the relationship between television exposure and body image disturbance remains in question. Results point toward body image processing as a concept that needs to be explicated and tested as a possibly powerful way to explain effects of media exposure on body image disturbance. How adolescents approach media also points toward body image processing as an important factor in media s effects on body image disturbance. It seems that media images have 25

5 Journal of Communication, Spring 1999 the potential to affect body image disturbance through exposure and body image processing, and to be mediated by thin ideal endorsement. Thin ideal endorsement also may be an outcome of media exposure and processing. More extensive, theoretically framed research is necessary to understand fully how media images of the thin ideal affect body image and relate to eating disorders. Body image disturbance, as described above, includes perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors, some of which have been tested more than others as dependent variables. In this study I present social comparison theory as a framework because of its ability to account for how adolescents approach media images and, in turn, are affected in their attitudes and behaviors associated with body image disturbance. Social Comparison Theory Social comparison theory (Festinger, 1954), as applied to body image disturbance, posits that people will compare themselves and significant others to people and images whom they perceive to represent realistic goals to attain. It also posits that individuals will be motivated to meet that goal after a comparison. Further, it suggests that people make automatic comparisons as a result of seeing these images without even knowing they are doing it. One of the benefits of social comparison is that it accounts for both goaldirected and automatic processing of incidental and central content. Similar to cognitive-processing studies that have shown adolescents are more vulnerable to incidental learning when they are not actively processing information (Bryant & Rockwell, 1994), social comparison theory predicts that individuals are vulnerable to forced comparisons with media images (Goethals, 1986). Goethals (1986) argued that all are predisposed to make comparisons even at times when they are unaware of the comparisons they make (as did Festinger when he originally outlined social comparison theory in 1954). However, some may be more or less motivated to make those comparisons. He suggested that media images of the thin ideal may force automatic comparisons (Goethals, 1986). Indeed, he questioned to what extent people would be able to avoid these forced comparisons even if they did not consciously choose them. 1 When it comes to television, the fact that the characters are thin may be incidental because the story has nothing to do with body size. On the other hand, thinness might be central, such as in advertisements for diet products or in exercise programs. The overriding factor, however, is whether viewers engage in goaldirected, controlled processing, which determines they will be affected on the basis of the conscious comparison. Those who do not choose to compare themselves may automatically compare themselves anyway. This means they will also be affected, although to a lesser extent than those who make goal-directed comparisons. Social comparison theory also provides the crucial link between viewing, attitudes, and behavior. Viewers who deem themselves as coming up short in their 1 Goethals admitted this idea had not been put to the test and called for researchers to do just that. 26

6 Body Image Processing comparisons are more motivated to close the gap on that comparison (Goethals, 1986; Kruglanski & Mayseless, 1990; Wood, 1989; Wood & Taylor, 1991). This link could account for an increased motivation to perform eating disorder behaviors and an increased drive for thinness. The comparisons help to confirm their belief in being thin and their need to act on that belief, particularly when they are highly motivated to achieve a goal (Wood & Taylor, 1991). Social comparison theory also accounts for the fact that not all women who watch a lot of television develop eating disorders. The theory predicts that only those who engage in goal-directed comparisons with the thin ideals and see those ideals as realistic bodies to achieve will engage in eating disorders. They do not necessarily learn those behaviors from the media but the media reinforce the drive toward acting on those behaviors. Therefore, based on social comparison theory, the following predictions should be supported: H1: Forced automatic comparisons will result in a direct impact of exposure on body image disturbance. H2: Thin ideal endorsement will significantly interact with exposure as a predictor of body image disturbance, because those who are predisposed to thin ideals may be more vulnerable to automatic comparisons. H3: Making goal-directed comparisons with media images for self and significant others will predict body image disturbance. H4: Goal-directed processing will predict more variance in body image disturbance than mere exposure. Social comparison theory assumes viewers cannot avoid making comparisons. However, as Faber, McLeod, and Brown (1979) suggested, adolescents may choose to be critical and disregard these images that have been established for them. One further component of body image processing is needed to account for the relationship between media exposure and body image disturbance. Critical Viewing and Questioning of Thin Images As Fiske and Taylor (1991) pointed out, people implement their intended way of thinking by paying attention (p. 279). Therefore, in order for those who do not intend to compare themselves to these thin ideals to avoid making an automatic comparison, they must be attentive in their processing of those images. Bryant and Rockwell (1994) found that active, critical viewing mediated the effects on moral judgment of being saturated with viewing 15 hours of sexual content within 1 week. However, these viewers were critically processing the information based on outside competing information. In other words, before viewing, they did not endorse those morals portrayed by the media. Critical viewing allowed them to evaluate those morals based on their own personal standards, rather than on standards established by the media. Therefore, critical viewing can help those adolescents who do not endorse (or endorse to a lesser extent) the thin ideals being portrayed on television. In a review of the literature, Van Evra (1990) suggested that adolescents who have outside competing information will be less 27

7 Journal of Communication, Spring 1999 vulnerable to cultivation effects, especially if they do not perceive the incoming media information as realistic. Therefore, if adolescents do not perceive thin ideals on television as realistic, and they have outside information telling them they do not need to live up to those ideals, they should be less vulnerable to negative effects on body image. Critical viewing leads to the following predictions: H5: Outside information and personal standards put to use through critical viewing will result in a significant interaction effect between endorsing a thin ideal and questioning thin media images on body image disturbance. H6: There will also be a significant interaction effect between seeing media images as realistic and questioning thin media images on body image disturbance. Method In health and physical education courses at two high schools in two mediumsized midwestern cities, 214 females filled out an anonymous survey with consent from the school district, teachers, parents, and the students themselves. Control Variable Measures Body Mass Index Participants self-reported height and weight, which was used to calculate Body Mass Index (BMI; Spence, 1991). The average BMI was (SD = 3.99), which is considered about the middle of the healthy range. In this sample, 17.3% were in the anorexic or underweight range, 64.0% were in the healthy range, 17.8% were in the overweight range, and 0.9% were in the obese range. Demographics Ethnicity. Participants were asked to check what they considered their ethnicity/ race to be. Results showed that 67.8% were White, 15.4% were African American, 11.2% indicated other, and 5.6% did not report their race or ethnicity. Socioeconomic status. Self-reported socioeconomic status (SES) was 60.3% middle class, 28.1% upper middle class, 5.1% lower middle class, 1.4% working class, 3.3% upper class, and 1.9% unreported. Age. Participants were asked their age and date of birth. The average age was years (SD = 1.44). Predictor Variable Measures Exposure Total television viewing. Participants were asked how many hours and minutes in an average week they spend watching television. Participants were also asked how many hours and minutes they spend each week watching particular types of 28

8 Body Image Processing programs. They were encouraged to use the individual program estimates to determine how many total hours per week they watch television. The square root of viewing hours was used to control skewness. The mean weekly total television exposure was hours (SD = 18.92). When the square root was taken to control for skewness, the mean was 3.68 (SD = 1.87). Exposure to thin television dramas. Participants were asked how many hours and minutes in an average week they spend watching television dramas such as Melrose Place and Beverly Hills The square root of viewing hours was used to control skewness. The mean weekly exposure to thin television dramas was 2.11 hours per week (SD = 3.33). When the square root was taken to control for skewness, the mean was 1.08 (SD = 0.97). Critical Viewing/Questioning Images Participants were asked how often (from never = 1 to always = 5), when watching television, they question why the characters need to have such perfect bodies, and why the characters do not look more like how my friends and I look. The averaged two items had a Cronbach s alpha of.75 (M = 2.28, SD = 1.10). Social Comparison Comparing the bodies of oneself or friends or significant others to media image bodies was the operational definition for social comparison. The realism component of social comparison was operationalized as how realistic of an ideal media images were seen to be. Compare self with media images. Participants were asked how often (from never = 1 to always = 5), when watching television, they make comparisons to media images. The five-item scale included I compare my body to women s bodies in music videos and I think about how my body compares to television characters bodies (Cronbach s alpha =.89). Compare close others with media images. Participants were asked how often (from never = 1 to always = 5), when watching television, I think about how my friends bodies compare to television characters bodies and I think about how my boy- or girlfriend s body compares to television characters bodies (Cronbach s alpha =.74). The two social comparison variables, comparisons of self and comparisons of close others, were highly correlated (r =.63, p <.001). Therefore, a combined scale was created, which produced a Cronbach s alpha of.87. The mean for the combined comparison with media images scale was 2.37 (SD = 0.96). Correlations among the new comparison scale and the other two body-image processing measures were all below.50. However, to minimize multicollinearity that could result from any relationship between predictor variables, all the variables were centered, as suggested by Cohen and Cohen (1983). Media Images as Realistic Ideal Participants were asked how much they agree or disagree, on a five-point Likerttype scale from strongly disagree = 1 to strongly agree = 5, with the following 29

9 Journal of Communication, Spring 1999 statements: Women who appear in television shows and movies project the type of appearance that I see as my ideal and the reverse scored item, I think that models on television often look too thin (Cronbach s alpha =.66, M = 2.70, SD = 0.76). 2 Criterion/Dependent Variable Measures Endorse Thin Ideal Stice, Schupak-Neuberg, Shaw, and Stein (1994) and Stice and Shaw (1994) used a measure created from pilot studies in which they asked subjects to generate statements that reflected stereotypes of the ideal female body. Traits with face validity that were mentioned at least twice were validated in a second study. Items that evidenced weak interitem correlations (.30 or less) were deleted, resulting in a six-item scale. Subjects indicated their level of agreement with six statements about the physical attributes of the ideal body for women (e.g., The ideal woman should be slender and thin ) on a five-point scale ranging from agree strongly to disagree strongly (Cronbach s alpha =.86). Participants in this study were asked how much they agree or disagree on a five-point Likert-type scale with a set of items adapted from Stice et al. s (1994) scale to indicate how much they endorse a thin ideal for women. The averaged 6- item scale (from strongly disagree = 1 to strongly agree = 5) included the ideal woman is thin, women should always be dieting, women should be thin if they want better social opportunities, overweight women are unattractive, women would be happier if they lost weight, and women should always work on their figures if they want to succeed (Cronbach s alpha =.80, M = 2.66, SD = 0.59). Body Image Disturbance Three subscales from the Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI; Garner & Olmsted, 1991; Garner, Olmstead, & Polivy, 1984) were used for the dimensions of body image disturbance in this study. The EDI has been extensively tested and is commonly used to determine the extent of eating disorders among individuals. The EDI includes several dimensions, and those used in this survey were body dissatisfaction, drive for thinness, and bulimia action tendencies. These three were chosen because they represent the main components for body image disturbance (perception, attitude, and behavior), particularly as they relate to media. Also, body image dissatisfaction has been seen in control and eating-disordered samples, which means it transcends the clinically disordered line. Drive for thinness is predominantly related to anorexia, whereas the bulimic behaviors dimension is primarily related to bulimia. 3 2 It is difficult to achieve high reliability on two-item scales because the average interitem correlation must be higher than with three or four items to achieve the same reliability (DeVellis, 1991). In this instance, the.52 interitem correlation would have resulted in alphas of.75 with three items and.80 with four items. 3 Correlations among the body image disturbance variables were bulimic behaviors and drive for thinness, r =.48, p <.001; bulimic behaviors and body dissatisfaction, r =.39, p <.001; drive for thinness 30

10 Body Image Processing Body image dissatisfaction. Participants were asked how often (on a scale of never = 1 to always= 6) they think things such as the following: hips are too large, thighs are too large, and butt is too large. The mean body dissatisfaction scale score for the sample was 3.62 (SD = 1.12) out of a maximum of 6 (Cronbach s alpha =.89). Using Garner and Olmsted s (1991) conservative cutoff score, 20.1% of the sample reported body dissatisfaction symptomatic of eating disorders. Another 14.3% reported scores considered borderline. Drive for thinness. Participants were asked how often (on a scale of never = 1 to always = 6) they think things such as the following: terrified of gaining weight, preoccupied with desire to be thinner, if gain a pound worry that will keep gaining. The EDI drive for thinness dimension is most strongly related to anorexia. The mean drive for thinness scale score for this sample was 2.82 (SD = 1.20) out of a maximum 6 (Cronbach s alpha =.93). Using Garner and Olmsted s (1991) conservative cutoff score, 11.7% of the sample reported a drive to be thin that is symptomatic of eating disorders. Another 5.7% reported scores that are considered borderline. Bulimic behaviors. Participants were asked how often (on a scale of never = 1 to always = 6) they do things such as the following: stuff myself with food, go on eating binges where can not stop, think of trying to vomit to lose weight. The mean bulimia action tendencies scale score for this sample was 2.13 (SD = 0.88) out of a maximum 6 (Cronbach s alpha =.80). Using Garner and Olmsted s (1991) conservative cutoff score, 3.4% of the sample reported engaging in bulimic actions symptomatic of eating disorders. Another 6.2% reported scores that are considered borderline. Results Regression Analyses Predicting Endorsing a Thin Ideal Exposure. As Table 1 shows, neither total television exposure (β =.03, p =.68) nor exposure to thin dramas were significant predictors of endorsing a thin ideal (β =.06, p =.41). Body image processing. The extent to which respondents reported questioning characters bodies when watching television was not a significant predictor of endorsing a thin ideal (β = -.07, p =.26). Beyond the 17% of variance shared with the other body-image processing variables in predicting endorsing a thin ideal, comparisons with television characters bodies was a significant positive predictor of endorsing a thin ideal (β =.43, p <.001), predicting 10.5% of unique variance. Regardless of how much total television and thin dramas they reported watching, how realistic they saw the media images, and how much they questioned media and body dissatisfaction, r =.69, p <.001. These three variables are dimensions of the same construct, and, therefore, related. However, they are conceptually different in that they represent a perception, an attitude, and a behavioral component of body image. Therefore, they were investigated as separate dependent variables. 31

11 Journal of Communication, Spring 1999 Table 1. Hierarchical Regression Predicting Thin Ideal Endorsement (N = 214) Predictor Variables Zero-order r B SE B ß Block R 2 Step 1 Demographics.01 BMI SES Ethnicity Age Step 2 Total TV exposure Step 3 Exposure to thin dramas Step 4 Body image processing.33 Question images Compare images.44*** *** Images realistic and ideal.44*** *** Note. Total R 2 =.34, adjusted total R 2 =.31. F (9, 204) = 11.74, p <.001. ***p <.001. images, the more the girls made comparisons with characters bodies, the more they reported endorsing a thin ideal. Seeing media images as realistic also remained a significant positive predictor of endorsing a thin ideal (β =.25, p <.001), predicting 5% of unique variance. The more realistic the girls reported media images to be, the stronger their endorsement of a thin ideal. Predicting Body Dissatisfaction As Table 2 shows, demographics predicted 10.3% of variance for body dissatisfaction with BMI and ethnicity standing out above the others as significant predictors. The larger the BMI, the more dissatisfied the girls reported being with their bodies (β =.30, p <.001). Caucasians and other girls of color were more dissatisfied with their bodies than were African American girls (β = -.15, p <.05). Endorsing a thin ideal predicted an additional 8.0% of variance for body dissatisfaction (β =.29, p <.001). Regardless of their body mass and other demographics, the more the girls in this sample reported endorsing a thin ideal, the more dissatisfied they were with their bodies. Beyond demographics and how much they endorsed a thin ideal, media variables predicted 16.7% of variance for body dissatisfaction. Exposure. Neither total television exposure (β = -.04, p =.57) nor exposure to thin dramas (β = -.003, p =.97) were significant predictors of body dissatisfaction. Body image processing. All three body-image processing variables significantly predicted body dissatisfaction when entered individually. However, only making comparison with television characters bodies predicted unique variance beyond that shared with the other body-image processing variables. It was the strongest predictor of body dissatisfaction (β =.36, p <.001), predicting 7% of unique variance. Regardless of demographics, how much they reported endorsing a thin ideal, the two exposure variables, and the other body-image processing variables, the more they reported making comparisons with television characters bodies 32

12 Body Image Processing Table 2. Hierarchical Regression Predicting Body Dissatisfaction (N = 214) Predictor Variables Zero-order r B SE B ß Block R 2 Step 1 Demographics.10 BMI.30*** *** SES Ethnicity -.12* * Age Step 2 Endorse thin ideal.28*** ***.08 Step 3 Total TV exposure Step 4 Exposure to thin dramas Step 5 Body image processing.14 Question images.17** Compare images.42*** *** Images realistic and ideal.26*** Step 6 Interactions.03 Endorse x question Images real x question Endorse x TV drama Endorse x total TV * Note. Total R 2 =.35, adjusted total R 2 =.30. F (14,199) = 7.65, p <.05. **p <.01, ***p <.001. when watching television, the more dissatisfied they were with their bodies. Questioning media images predicted no unique variance for body dissatisfaction (β =.04, p =.50). Seeing media images as realistic was not a significant positive predictor of body dissatisfaction beyond predicting the 6% of variance it shared with the other processing variables (β =.13, p =.07). Interactions. One of the four interactions was a significant predictor of body dissatisfaction. How much the girls endorsed a thin ideal interacted with total television exposure to predict body dissatisfaction (β = -.15, p =.03), predicting 3% of variance. For those who watched a lot of television, thin endorsement was not related to increased body dissatisfaction. For those who did not watch a lot of television, increased thin endorsement was associated with increased body dissatisfaction. In other words, as depicted in Figure 1 (in which body dissatisfaction means were adjusted for covariates and main effects), predispositions had a greater effect for those who watched less television than for those who watched more television. There were no other significant interaction effects on body dissatisfaction. Predicting Drive for Thinness As Table 3 shows, demographics predicted 9.1% of variance for drive for thinness with BMI, standing out above the others as a significant predictor. The larger the BMI, the stronger the drive for thinness (β =.30, p <.001). Beyond demographics, endorsing a thin ideal predicted an additional 18.2% of variance for drive for 33

13 Journal of Communication, Spring 1999 Figure 1. Means estimate the significant regression interaction for the effect of thin endorsement on the relationship between total television exposure and body dissatisfaction. thinness. The more the girls in this sample reported endorsing a thin ideal, the stronger was the drive for thinness (β =.43, p <.001). Beyond demographics and how much they already endorsed a thin ideal, media variables predicted 15.6% of variance for drive for thinness. Exposure. Neither total television exposure (β = -.02, p =.74) nor exposure to thin dramas was significant predictor of a drive for thinness (β = -.01, p =.88). Body image processing. Beyond the 6% of variance shared, comparisons with television characters bodies when viewing remained a significant positive predictor of a drive for thinness (β =.36, p <.001), predicting 6.5% of unique variance. Regardless of demographics, how much they endorsed a thin ideal, the two exposure variables and the other body-image processing variables, the more they reported making comparisons with characters bodies when watching television, the stronger their drive to be thin. Seeing media images as realistic also remained a significant positive predictor of a drive for thinness (β =.16, p =.01), predicting 1.5% of unique variance. The more realistic they reported media images to be, the stronger their drive to be thin. Questioning media images was not a significant predictor of a drive for thinness (β =.003, p =.97). Interactions. There were no significant interaction effects on a drive for thinness. Predicting Bulimic Behaviors As Table 4 shows, beyond demographics, endorsing a thin ideal predicted an additional 9.1% of variance for bulimic action tendencies. The more the girls in this sample reported endorsing a thin ideal, the more they engaged in bulimic action tendencies (β =.30, p <.001). Beyond demographics and how much they endorsed a thin ideal, media variables predicted 16.1% of variance for bulimic action tendencies. 34

14 Body Image Processing Table 3. Hierarchical Regression Predicting Drive for Thinness (N = 214) Predictor Variables Zero-order r B SE B ß Block R 2 Step 1 Demographics.09 BMI.27*** *** SES Ethnicity Age Step 2 Endorse thin ideal.42*** **.18 Step 3 Total TV exposure Step 4 Exposure to thin dramas Step 5 Body image processing.14 Question images Compare images.49*** *** Images realistic and ideal.36*** * Step 6 Interactions.01 Endorse x question Images real x question Endorse x TV drama Endorse x total TV Note. Total R 2 =.43, adjusted total R 2 =.39. F (14,199) = 10.70, p <.001. *p <.05, **p <.01, ***p <.001. Exposure. Total television exposure (β = -.002, p =.98) was not a significant predictor of bulimic action tendencies. Exposure to thin dramas was a significant negative predictor of bulimic action tendencies (β = -.15, p <.05), predicting 2% of variance. The more they reported being exposed to thin dramas, the less they reported engaging in bulimic action tendencies. Body image processing. Seeing media images as realistic and questioning images appeared to be significant positive predictors of bulimic action tendencies before all the body-image processing variables were entered. However, neither the extent to which they see images as realistic (β =.05, p =.49), nor the extent to which they question media images (β =.12, p =.10) predicted any significant unique variance beyond the 4% these variables shared with comparisons. Comparisons with television characters bodies when watching television remained a significant positive predictor of bulimic action tendencies (β =.29, p =.001), predicting an additional 6% of unique variance. Regardless of demographics, how much they endorsed a thin ideal, the two exposure variables, and the other bodyimage processing variables, the more they reported making comparisons with characters bodies when watching television, the more they reported engaging in bulimic action tendencies. Interactions. Two of the four interactions were significant in predicting bulimic action tendencies. The extent to which they reported media images as realistic significantly interacted with how much they questioned television characters bodies 35

15 Journal of Communication, Spring 1999 Table 4. Hierarchical Regression Predicting Bulimic Action Tendencies (N = 214) Predictor Variables Zero-order r B SE B ß Block R 2 Step 1 Demographics.01 BMI SES Ethnicity Age Step 2 Endorse thin ideal.30*** ***.09 Step 3 Total TV exposure Step 4 Exposure to thin dramas *.02 Step 5 Body image processing.10 Question images.22** Compare images.39*** ** Images realistic and ideal.24*** Step 6 Interactions.04 Endorse x question * Images real x question ** Endorse x TV drama Endorse x total TV Note. Total R 2 =.26, adjusted total R 2 =.21. F (14,199) = 5.05, p <.001. *p <.05, **p <.01, ***p <.001. to predict bulimic actions (β = -.24, p =.001), predicting 3% of unique variance. As depicted in Figure 2 (in which bulimic behavior means were adjusted for covariate and mean effects), for those who reported media images as more realistic, there was a slight increase in bulimic action tendencies with increased questioning of television characters bodies. For those who reported media images as less realistic, there was a marked decrease in bulimic action tendencies with increased questioning of characters bodies. The extent to which they endorsed a thin ideal also significantly interacted with how much they questioned television characters bodies to predict bulimic actions (β =.17, p =.02), predicting 1% of unique variance. Also as shown in Figure 2, for low thin endorsers of a thin ideal, increased questioning was associated with decreased bulimic action tendencies. For high thin endorsers, increased questioning was associated with increased bulimic action tendencies. Discussion Overall, the results suggest that media do have an impact on body image disturbance, both directly through body image processing and indirectly by encouraging adolescent girls to endorse a thin ideal and by establishing what they see as realistic ideals. These adolescents look toward people they see on television to 36

16 Body Image Processing Figure 2. Means estimate the significant regression interactions for the effect of thin endorsement on the relationship between question media images and bulimic behaviors and for the effect of seeing media images as realistic ideals on the relationship between question media images and bulimic behaviors. define what their own bodies should look like. They see these perfect images as representing realistic goals to achieve. They compare themselves and believe they come up short in those comparisons. The more they compare themselves, the more they strive to be thin, the more they dislike their bodies, and the more they engage in unhealthy behaviors. Most do not truly engage in any sort of critical viewing. Instead, when they question what they see, it usually serves to make them feel worse. It is only those who do not look toward television for their ideals, and who do not believe women need to be thin, whose questioning leads to fewer eating-disordered behaviors. Beyond the extent to which adolescent girls believe women should be thin, television exposure and body-image processing variables accounted for 15.6% of variance for drive for thinness, 16.7% of variance for body dissatisfaction, and 16.1% of variance for bulimic behaviors. The media variables also accounted for 33.0% of variance for endorsing a thin ideal. This is important because endorsing a thin ideal, in turn, accounted for 8.0% of variance for body dissatisfaction, 18.2% for drive for thinness, and 9.1% for bulimic action tendencies. The results replicated the study by Stice and his colleagues (1994), who did not find a significant relationship between overall media exposure and the endorsement of the thin ideal. However, by looking deeper into the relationship between media and thin ideal endorsement with more conceptually derived measures, this study revealed that the combined media variables accounted for 33% of the variance in endorsing a thin ideal. As predicted, this was because the measures went beyond mere exposure to include body image processing effects of media images. The impact on endorsing a thin ideal seems to be more about how adolescent girls process thin images than about how much they view those images. The results contrast those of Harrison and Cantor (1997), who did not find a 37

17 Journal of Communication, Spring 1999 relationship between television and eating disorder behaviors. However, they did not look at body image processing, which was key to linking television to behaviors in this study. They also found a relationship between total television exposure and body dissatisfaction, which was not revealed in this study. A total exposure effect on body dissatisfaction was found as a condition of the extent to which viewers endorsed a thin ideal. Harrison and Cantor did not uncover a relationship between total television exposure and a drive for thinness and eating disorder behaviors, which was supported in this study. They found that exposure to thin dramas was related to a drive for thinness, but not to body dissatisfaction or behaviors. In this study, exposure to thin dramas was related only to bulimic behaviors, but it was in the opposite direction. However, in this study, the girls watched fewer of these programs than did the women in Harrison and Cantor s study. Moreover, the mean age of the girls in this study was 4 years younger than in Harrison and Cantor s study. Four years could make an important developmental difference in how adolescent girls are affected by media images in addition to testing fewer years of cumulative effects. The negative relationship between exposure to thin dramas and bulimic behaviors could be because bulimics avoid thin programs. This study replicated Heinberg and Thompson s study (1992), in which comparisons with celebrities were significantly related to body dissatisfaction, drive for thinness, and bulimic behaviors. However, it refines it as a media processing effect because the comparisons in this study were reportedly made during viewing. In the Heinberg and Thompson study, the comparisons were not specific to the viewing experience. These girls have a more greatly disturbed body image because they actively compare themselves as they watch television rather than because they make abstract comparisons with celebrities. Comparing themselves to media images was the strongest predictor of all three body image disturbance variables. Therefore, television s greatest impact on body image appears to be providing images to which adolescents compare themselves. These comparisons provoke the adolescents to feel dissatisfied with their bodies, increase their drive to be thin, and motivate them to engage in eating-disordered behaviors. Seeing media images as realistic ideals predicts an increased drive to be thin, even beyond the extent to which making comparisons drives them to be thin. Beyond making goal-directed comparisons, reporting media images as realistic for how they want to look is related to having a stronger drive to be thin. By establishing an ideal for these adolescents, television indirectly affects body image. They want to look like the women they see on television, whom they report to be realistically thin. As a result, their drive to be thin increases. Although seeing the images as realistic ideals is related to body dissatisfaction and bulimic behaviors, it doesn t matter beyond the extent to which the girls make goal-directed comparisons. Overall, social comparison theory as a framework for studying media effects on body image proved rather compelling. Results supported H3 and H4, which were based on body image processing, and partially supported H1, which was based on exposure for those whose predispositions made them more vulnerable to exposure. For those who already endorse a thin ideal and are more predisposed to 38

18 Body Image Processing the images, exposure predicts increased body dissatisfaction, ostensibly as a result of forced comparisons. Goal-directed comparisons also directly impacted body image disturbance and was a stronger predictor than exposure. The one prediction not supported was H2 about exposure. There was no support for the notion that increased exposure leads to body image disturbance as a result of forced comparisons. This may be due to the media exposure measures in this study. Perhaps daily rather than weekly viewing measures might have been better able to detect this relationship. An experiment may also be a better method to detect forced automatic comparisons that result from watching television. However, it could also be that for these adolescent girls there is no overall relationship between exposure and body image disturbance. It could be that the body imageexposure relationship develops between middle and late adolescence. These girls are still developing the cognitive skills to process information (Keating, 1990), which may mean a new relationship between television and body image could emerge through the developmental process. Cumulative effects of exposure may not yet be apparent for those who endorse a thin ideal to a lesser extent. If that proved true, this age would be an excellent time to teach media literacy skills as an attempt to intervene on any impending impact from increased exposure. I found limited support for the predictions based on critical viewing. A significant interaction effect between seeing media images as realistic and questioning thin media images was found for bulimic behaviors, but not for a drive for thinness or for body dissatisfaction (H6). For those who do not really see media images as an ideal appearance, increased questioning is related to decreased bulimic action tendencies. A similar relationship was found between the extent to which the girls endorse a thin ideal and how much they question images (H5). Buying into a thin ideal in general or specifically to media images are the two key variables that produce an effect for questioning media images on body image disturbance. As Van Evra (1990) and others have posited, how adolescents are affected by television depends somewhat on their perceptions and predispositions. However, these interactions were significant predictors of bulimic behaviors, but not the other two body-image disturbance variables. In other words, questioning the images produced different effects in their bulimic behaviors depending on how much they endorse a thin ideal and how much they buy into media images of the ideal, but it did not make a difference in their drive to be thin or how satisfied they were with their bodies. Critical viewing can impede the link between television images of the thin ideal and behaviors, even though it does not seem to have the same positive effect on attitudes. As a main effect, questioning the television characters bodies was a significant predictor of two of the body-image disturbance variables before accounting for making comparisons. However, the relationship is positive, and, therefore, it is an enhancing rather than a dampening effect. It appears that for many of these adolescent girls, questioning the perfection of characters bodies was not a protective factor. Some of the girls in this study who question the images seem to also embrace them. Questioning the images may remind them that they are supposed to live up to the thin ideal even if they do not want to live up to the ideal. As their cognitive-processing skills continue to develop into late adolescence, they may be 39