Peers or the media?
Influence of media on body image, life satisfaction, and appearance eating disorders in teenage girls it is an important and frequently discussed topic. Some experts believe that exposure to lean media for several hours a day can lead to symptoms of eating disorders. Others argue that the link between frequent contact with media and body image is vague and ambiguous.
Last year, research was conducted to analyze the role of peers and the media in the formation of a normal or disturbed body image. The authors of the paper presenting the results of the exploration of this area are dr Christopher J. Ferguson and his colleagues at the University of Texas in the United States. Researchers have shown that peers contributed to the formation of dissatisfaction from your own body in teenage girls.
The course of the study
Ferguson and his team concentrated on comparing the influence of peers and the media on girls’ dissatisfaction with the body, the appearance of symptoms of eating disorders, and on satisfaction with life at all. To assess the vulnerability and impact of lean ideals in the media, researchers asked 237 young Spanish girls, aged 10 to 17, to name their 3 favorite TV shows and to rate the attractiveness of their female TV shows. The researchers also assessed their weight and height, and analyzed whether the girls had little feeling inferiority compared to their female friends – this feature was referred to as mutual peer competition. Additionally, the frequency of using social media was also monitored. The girls were also asked about their opinions about their own bodies, assessed whether they showed symptoms of eating disorders, and described their overall satisfaction with life.
Findings
Summarizing the results obtained, it turned out that neither exposure to “Slim ideals” promoted in the media, nor frequent use social media they did not allow for as accurately predicting dissatisfaction with their body as presence “Peer competition”. Similarly, the first two factors mentioned did not allow predicting the symptoms of the disease – eating disorders. Similar results were obtained in the case of predicting eating disorders – peer competition made it possible to predict the appearance of eating disorders symptoms in the long run. Interestingly, both peer competition and the use of social media influenced decrease in life satisfaction. The results of the study suggest that only peer competition, not the influence of television and the frequency of using social media, can predict negative effects on the perception of one’s own body image. Therefore, the above research shows how important a problem is for young people to compare themselves and to compete with each other. The place of such competition, apart from the real world, is also social media – including many social networks, and frequent use of them may indirectly contribute to the above-mentioned difficulties.
The above study may be the starting point for implementing the prevention of eating disorders in young people. Learning to build your own seems important self-esteem– strong and stable, one that will not suffer in many comparisons between peers.
Based on: www.sciencedialy.com