Idealized media images and adolescent body image: “comparing” boys and girls

Media Influence on Drive for Thinness and Drive for Muscularity

“…We also hypothesized that both drive for thinness and drive for muscularity would correlate with societal pressure to have the perfect body (Hargreaves & Tiggemann, 2004), use of media for information on how to meet body ideal schemas (Levine & Smolak, 1996, 2005, magazine consumption (Tiggemann, 2003), and television viewing (Harrison & Cantor, 1997). Our hypotheses were partially supported.…”

“…Thus, it is perhaps not surprising that a meta-analysis of media influence found a relationship between exposure to media images depicting the thin-ideal body and body image concerns in women (country of each study was not specified; Grabe, Ward, & Hyde, 2008). Men are also under pressure, as the current Western (e.g., United States, Australia) male ideal is presented as being both lean and muscular, with a welldeveloped chest and arms, wide shoulders, and a narrow waist (Hargreaves & Tiggemann, 2004). Thus, the media prototypes for both men and women that are being presented in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the U.K., and Western Europe establish a body ideal that may be impossible for many people to realistically and healthily achieve.…”

“…Once individuals have internalized these ideal images, the images are used as a comparison point for their own body image goals. This effect of internalizing media images is seen in an Australian study that showed an increase in body dissatisfaction when male and female adolescents believe they are lacking, meaning they 'fail' to meet the social and cultural standards (Hargreaves & Tiggemann, 2004). This sense of lack results in an increase of societal pressure to meet the ideals set forth by the media, as demonstrated by studies of male and female adolescents in China (Chen & Jackson, 2012) and male and female college students in the United States (Chen & Jackson, 2012;Fernandez & Pritchard, 2012).…”

“…We hypothesized that drive for thinness in both U.S. collegiate women (Botta, 1999) and men would relate to body comparison to/ internalization of general media images, and that drive for muscularity would correlate with body comparison to athletic images (Karazsia & Crowther, 2008). We also expected that both drive for thinness and drive for muscularity would correlate with societal pressure to have the perfect body (Hargreaves & Tiggemann, 2004), use of media for information on how to meet body ideal schemas (Levine & Smolak, 1996, 2005, magazine consumption (Tiggemann, 2003), and television viewing (Harrison & Cantor, 1997).…”

Social comparisons on social media: The impact of Facebook on young women's body image concerns and mood

“…Magazines generally feature images of models and celebrities whereas Facebook mainly features images of one's peers (Hew, 2011). Similar to the effect of exposure to images of thin-ideal models and celebrities (Halliwell & Dittmar, 2004;Halliwell et al, 2011;Hargreaves & Tiggemann, 2004), exposure to peers who closely match the thin ideal has been found to increase women's body dissatisfaction (Krones, Stice, Batres, & Orjada, 2005). Some research examining the impact of appearance comparisons to these different target groups has shown that comparisons to peers and models can lead to different outcomes in regard to women's body image concerns, perhaps because the appearance of peers is seen to be more personally attainable than the appearance of models or celebrities due to the similar resources and lifestyle that peers often have to oneself.…”