Looking Good Versus Feeling Good: An Investigation of Media Frames of Health Advice and Their Effects on Women’s Body-related Self-perceptions

Abstract

The present research had two goals: (1) to document how health advice is framed on the covers of women's health magazines, and (2) to investigate whether exposure to appearance frames (i.e., do something in order to look better) affected women's body-related selfperceptions compared to health frames (i.e., to do something in order to feel better). Study 1, a content analysis of 426 cover headlines on the five highest-circulating women's health magazines in the United States, revealed that appearance frames were just as prevalent as health frames. Study 2, an experiment conducted on 103 U.S. undergraduate women, showed that those assigned to appearance frames reported more body shame and appearance-related motivation to exercise than women assigned to health frames.

Addressing Gender and Cultural Diversity in Body Image: Objectification Theory as a Framework for Integrating Theories and Grounding Research

“…Most experimental research on objectification theory evaluates the impact of sexual objectification-heightening manipulations. This is the case for the studies in the present issue as well, but the studies in this issue represent novel approaches to manipulating and assessing sexual objectification exposure, such as exposing college women to appearancefocused frames in magazines (Aubrey 2010), and, in a non-experimental study, quantifying college women's exposure to appearance-focused magazine, television, and internet consumption (Tiggemann and Miller 2010).…”

“…Four of the five studies in this issue that were explicitly grounded in objectification theory used body surveillance as the indicator of self-objectification (Calogero et al 2010;Rolnik et al 2010;Slater and Tiggemann 2010;Tylka and Sabik 2010); one study that used the 20 Statement Test to evaluate a state of heightened self-objectification did not yield the expected difference on that measure between appearance-focused exposure and control conditions (Aubrey, 2010). Thus, body surveillance appears to be a frequently used and empirically supported manifestation of self-objectification.…”

“…1). From this perspective, many experimental manipulations, such as the classic swimsuit versus sweater manipulations (e.g., Fredrickson et al 1998), or in this issue, appearance-focused frames in magazines (Aubrey 2010), can be viewed as specific sexual objectification exposures that heighten the self-objectification process and should therefore increase the observed manifestations of this process as body surveillance, body shame, etc.. Furthermore, as discussed previously, considering the set of intermediary variables in objectification theory (i.e., internalization, body surveillance, body shame, anxiety, flow, internal bodily awareness) as potential consequences of the self-objectification process may reveal differential salience of these variables as manifestations of selfobjectification across groups and criterion variables (e.g., the greater salience of body shame to eating disorder symptoms among sexual minority men relative to its salience to muscularity-focused body image concerns among sexual minority or heterosexual men; Martins et al 2007;Wiseman and Moradi 2010).…”

Sağlık için Tüketimin Teşvik Edilmesinde Kaynak Olarak Dergiler: “Women’s Health” ve “Men’s Health” Dergileri Üzerine Bir Karşılaştırma

“…Indeed, majority of the products which were advertised in the health magazines are related to these topics (Aubrey, 2010). In this respect, when the contents of the magazines are examined the readers are generally receives too many health and appearance-related messages (Aubrey, 2010, s. 56).…”

Expose the Illusions, Crack the Codes: Contextualizing Visual Media to Mold a New Reality

“…Via the media, young girls learn that their looks are important to their identity (Bartky 1990) and may begin to perceive and describe themselves by their appearance rather than their internal aspects, such as their personality, intellect, and generosity (Aubrey 2006). This tendency, referred to as selfobjectification (Fredrickson and Roberts 1997, p. 179), is connected with many detrimental mental health issues, such as poor self-esteem, body shame, and disordered eating (Aubrey 2010;Morry and Staska 2001;Turner et al 1997). In the documentary, Cover Girl Culture: Awakening the Media Generation, director Nicole Clark exposes the lifestyle advocated in fashion magazines as illusory and reveals the many mental health and societal problems that could result from girls' exposure to these images.…”