The Media's Impact on Body Image: Implications for Prevention and Treatment

Recent research has demonstrated that media images of “ideal” female models have an impact upon women's body image, leading to dissatisfaction and perceptual distortion. The evidence for this link between media presentation and body image distortion is reviewed, and theoretical models are advanced to explain the link. In particular, women's use of social comparison in establishing their self-concept seems to be an important psychological construct in understanding the impact of the media upon body image. Based on empirical evidence and proposed psychological mediators, a number of measures are suggested that might prevent media effects or that might be used to treat those effects. In particular, psychoeducational preventative measures and group-based treatments seem to offer the greatest promise.     

Predictors of women's concern with body weight: the roles of perceived self-media ideal discrepancies and self-esteem

Researchers have expended significant effort trying to delineate determinants of body image disturbance in young women, in part because of the potential of body image disturbance to precipitate eating disordered behavior. In this research we demonstrate that the extent of the discrepancy women perceive between their own attractiveness and body shape and images representative of ideal feminine attractiveness presented in advertising and the broader media (i.e., self-media ideal discrepancy) predicts how concerned they are with their weight (a measure of body image disturbance). Perhaps more importantly, we also show that perceived self-media ideal discrepancy is a construct independent of global self-esteem. Specifically, our results demonstrate that perceived self-media ideal discrepancy is related to women's weight concern even when self-esteem is statistically controlled. Implications for theory and clinical intervention are discussed.     

Great expectations: challenges for women as mental health administrators

Although women have made many strides in the area of leadership, stereotypes still exist that limit their power. Traditional concepts of femininity have not typically been associated with strength and competence. This article describes an inpatient unit at San Francisco General Hospital, University of California, San Francisco, which is led by a group of women. The unit houses a women-focused treatment team specializing in treating women who have serious mental illness with histories of severe trauma, including poverty and violence. The article describes the challenges and rewards available to women leaders in this type of setting. Four areas of women's leadership are explored: the stereotypes women have about each other as leaders, the expectations and biases of staff and trainees, the projections of patients onto women leaders, and women's leadership in relation to department administration. Strategies for addressing biases in these areas and developing women's leadership conclude the article.     

When the war was over, little changed: women's posttraumatic suffering after the war in Mozambique

This article explores the psychosocial effects of women's prolonged exposure to civil war in the center of Mozambique. Using a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods, 91 women were assessed for posttraumatic stress symptoms and psychosocial indicators of ill health. The results indicate that for the majority of the women in this study, traumatic experiences are sequential processes. Their ill health ranges from symptoms of posttraumatic stress to episodes of spirit possession (gamba), affecting women's capacities to conceive and raise children, and marginalizing their social position. A careful analysis of the specific problems and needs of women in postwar contexts is recommended, along with a systematic examination of the effectiveness of the available resources that may play a role in boosting trauma recovery in this group of women.     

The reduction of preoccupation with body weight and shape in schools: A feminist approach

This paper explores key aspects of a feminist-informed approach to the prevention of body weight and shape preoccupation in schools and extends principles of feminist counseling to prevention programs. A feminist-informed prevention program acknowledges the transformative power of lived knowledge and relies on inquiry and dialogue to derive and give a voice to this knowledge. The program critically examines the many varied contextual factors that affect women's experience of themselves, their bodies, and their eating. Guided by participants, it then targets aspects of the social and political environment for direct intervention. A feminist prevention program respects processes of change and growth that occur within a matrix of relationships and facilitates the opening of relational dialogues among peers and across generations, positions of power, race, and other social barriers. Creating an intervention milieu that does not collude with adverse societal structures, prejudices, or mores is another goal of a feminist prevention program. In an equitable school system, where women's bodies are no longer a site of societal oppression and their united voices are heard and hold social power, body weight and shape preoccupation may be reduced.     

The impact of exposure to the thin-ideal media image on women

The purpose of this study was to experimentally examine the effects of exposure to the thin-ideal body image on women's affect, self-esteem, body satisfaction, eating disorder symptoms, and level of internalization of the thin-ideal. College women (N = 145) were randomly exposed to photographs from popular magazines containing either thin-ideal images or neutral images. Exposure to thin-ideal magazine images increased body dissatisfaction, negative mood states, and eating disorder symptoms and decreased self-esteem, although it did not cause more internalization of the thin-ideal. Exposure to thin-ideal media images may contribute to the development of eating disorders by causing body dissatisfaction, negative moods, low self-esteem, and eating disorders symptoms among women.     

The condition of "tightness": the somatic complaints of Turkish migrant women

This article is based on intensive interviews made with 75 Turkish migrant women living in Denmark. The interviews were conducted in the women's own homes, in their own language, and special care was taken to establish an atmosphere of confidence. The methodological problems involved in this kind of research are discussed. The purpose of the study was to obtain information on the women's own evaluation of their physical, psychological and social conditions in the host country. Only 8% of the informants reported that they were in good health. The remaining had complaints of somatic character and considered themselves as being ill. There were no cases of severe psychopathology. The background of the women's illnesses is analysed at three levels: the physical, the psychosocial and the cultural levels respectively, in an attempt to elucidate their multifactorial etiology as well as to give a more comprehensive picture of the meaning of illness in a societal context.     

Male body image in Taiwan versus the West: Yanggang Zhiqi meets the Adonis complex

OBJECTIVE: Body image disorders appear to be more prevalent in Western than non-Western men. Previous studies by the authors have shown that young Western men display unrealistic body ideals and that Western advertising seems to place an increasing value on the male body. The authors hypothesized that Taiwanese men would exhibit less dissatisfaction with their bodies than Western men and that Taiwanese advertising would place less value on the male body than Western media. METHOD: The authors administered a computerized test of body image to 55 heterosexual men in Taiwan and compared the results to those previously obtained in an identical study in the United States and Europe. Second, they counted the number of undressed male and female models in American versus Taiwanese women's magazine advertisements. RESULTS: In the body image study, the Taiwanese men exhibited significantly less body dissatisfaction than their Western counterparts. In the magazine study, American magazine advertisements portrayed undressed Western men frequently, but Taiwanese magazines portrayed undressed Asian men rarely. CONCLUSIONS: Taiwan appears less preoccupied with male body image than Western societies. This difference may reflect 1) Western traditions emphasizing muscularity and fitness as a measure of masculinity, 2) increasing exposure of Western men to muscular male bodies in media images, and 3) greater decline in traditional male roles in the West, leading to greater emphasis on the body as a measure of masculinity. These factors may explain why body dysmorphic disorder and anabolic steroid abuse are more serious problems in the West than in Taiwan.     

The mental health of partners of Australian Vietnam veterans three decades after the war and its relation to veteran military service, combat, and PTSD

This study assessed psychiatric diagnoses in female partners of Australian Vietnam veterans, compared these with national Australian population statistics, and assessed their relationship with veterans' military service and mental health. Independent assessments of 240 veteran-partner couples used standardized physical and psychiatric diagnostic interviews that permitted comparison with Australian population data. Multivariate regression modeling examined associations of veterans' war service, combat, and psychiatric status with women's mental health. Anxiety disorders and severe recurrent depression were among 11 of 17 psychiatric diagnoses that were significantly in excess of population expectations. Veterans' combat and post-traumatic stress disorder were significant predictors of women's depressive disorder, particularly severe depression. We conclude that veterans' war service and mental health sequelae including post-traumatic stress disorder are associated with higher rates of mental disorder in their female partners 3 decades after the war.     

Distressed women's clinic patients: preferences for mental health treatments and perceived obstacles

Women seen in public gynecology settings are at very high risk of developing psychiatric disorders. Because low-income and ethnic minority women seen in such settings underutilize mental health services, it is important to better understand treatment preferences and obstacles among this high-risk patient population. Public women's clinic patients (N = 105) who reported psychological or emotional distress were asked about their interest in medication, psychotherapy, and psychoeducational classes, as well as perceived obstacles to using these services. The vast majority were interested in receiving some form of mental health treatment, with the most interest shown for individual therapy and general psychoeducational classes about health and stress. Less interest was expressed in group therapy and medication. Women anticipated more instrumental barriers to using services, such as lack of money, transportation, and childcare, than stigma-related barriers, such as fear of embarrassment or rejection. However, Latinas, women with less education, and those with a current mood or anxiety disorder were more likely to anticipate stigma-related barriers to treatment than other women. Implications of these findings for referral and treatment of mental health problems among public women's clinic patients are discussed.     

Women's internal reality: birthplace or graveyard

This article is an exploration of the etiology of female subjectivity and its relationship to unconscious and conscious images of mother and mother's body. Within the analytic process in dream and phantasy internal aspects of daughter's subjective beliefs and feelings about her body, sexuality, pregnancy, maternal capacity, and mental strength emerge. An analysis of their transformations into language, conscious beliefs, and cultural biases are juxtaposed with the development of women's subjectivity. The concept of the "illness of the signifier" is shown to be the outcome of the painful difficulties of realizing the meaning of the maternal presence as they are constructed internally and culturally.     

Post-divorce contact, relationship with father, and heterosexual trust in female college students

Attitudes of 104 female college students from divorced and intact families were compared. Parental divorce was found to have long-term effects on young women's expectations about their futures in relation to men, work, and marriage. However, these effects were not found to be closely related to the nature of the relationships they had with their fathers following the divorce.     

Is terror gender-blind? Gender differences in reaction to terror events

Objective This study examines gender differences in posttraumatic vulnerability in the face of the terror attacks that occurred during the Al-Aqsa Intifada. In addition, the contribution of level of exposure, sense of safety, self-efficacy, and coping strategies is assessed. Method Participants were 250 men and 262 women, who constitute a representative sample of Israel's adult population. Data were collected via a structured questionnaire consisting of 51 items that were drawn from several questionnaires widely used in the study of trauma. Results The findings indicate that women endorsed posttraumatic and depressive symptoms more than men and that, generally, their odds of developing posttraumatic stress symptoms are six times higher than those of men. Results also revealed that women's sense of safety and self-efficacy are lower than men's and that there are gender differences in coping strategies in the face of terror. Conclusions Gender differences in vulnerability to terror may be attributable to a number of factors, among these are women's higher sense of threat and lower self-efficacy, as well as their tendency to use less effective coping strategies than men. Level of exposure to terror was ruled out as a possible explanation for the gender differences in vulnerability.     

Menopausal transition and depression: who is at risk and how to treat it?

The menopausal transition may impose a challenge to clinicians and health professionals who are invested in improving women's quality of life; after all, this period in life is commonly marked by significant hormone fluctuations accompanied by bothersome vasomotor symptoms (e.g., hot flushes and night sweats) and other somatic complaints. In addition, more recent epidemiologic data demonstrate that some women transitioning to menopause may be at higher risk for developing depression when compared with their risk during premenopausal years; this increased risk appears to be true even among those who had never experienced depression before. In this article, putative contributing factors for this window of vulnerability for depression during the menopausal transition are critically reviewed. Hormonal and nonhormonal factors that may contribute to the occurrence of physical and/or psychiatric complaints during the menopausal transition are discussed. Lastly, existing evidence-based treatment strategies are summarized.     

Effect of Ethnic Identity on Attitudes, Feelings, and Behaviors Toward Food

A nationwide study examined differences in attitudes, feelings, and behaviors of African-American and White female college students toward food. The study also explored the relationship between eating disorder symptoms and ethnic identity among the two groups. All subjects completed the Eating Disorder Inventory-2 (EDI-2), a demographic questionnaire, and the Multi-Group Ethnic Identity Scale (MGEI). Analyses of variance and unpaired t-test revealed that White women exhibited significantly greater disordered eating behaviors and attitudes than African-American women. After controlling for degree of overweight, differences in disordered eating symptomology between the two groups became even greater. In contrast to White women, African-American women's dissatisfaction with body weight and shape was related to actual weight problems. Furthermore, degree of ethnic identity was greater among African-American women. Nonetheless, regression analysis revealed that ethnic identity was a predictor of drive for thinness, bulimia, and body dissatisfaction for White but not African-American women.     

Women and autonomy: using structural analysis of social behavior to find autonomy within connections

In their work to construct psychological theories about women's development, Carol Gilligan and Jean Baker Miller both highlight the centrality of interpersonal connections in women's lives. As they describe how women's senses of self and morality are organized around relationships, Gilligan and Miller tend to contrast affiliation with autonomy. The message that readers often take from this view is that autonomy has no meaning for women--is somehow beneath them, beyond them, or unnatural to them. Although Miller and Gilligan dichotomize affiliation and autonomy, they also provide numerous examples in which women's feelings of worth, ability, and self-consideration enhance relatedness. We argue that autonomy can be understood as a sense of freedom and personal integrity that encompasses these same characteristics, and we use the Structural Analysis of Social Behavior to clarify how autonomy makes critical contributions to interpersonal connections.     

Sex difference in perceptual-verbal ability in relation to body size

Sex difference in verbal ability was reconsidered in relation to body size. The perceptual-verbal ability (PVA) was assessed using the A's Test. For the raw data, women excelled men, as expected. PVA positively correlated with height and weight of the subjects, but only for women. As a covariate of height, sex difference increased by increasing the women's score; men's score did not change. Tall women had much higher scores than short men. It was concluded that sex difference in PVA is stable despite the smaller body size of females than males, and body height may be predictive for this ability, but only in women.     

Weight satisfaction among black and white couples: the role of perceptions

The aim of the present study was to determine whether a woman's weight satisfaction was influenced by how satisfied she perceived her mate was with her weight, whether the perceptions were accurate, and whether race influenced the perceptions or their accuracy. Black and White couples answered questions about weight satisfaction and provided demographic information. For all participants, perceiving the mate to be more satisfied produced greater weight satisfaction; White women's perceptions about their mates were least accurate whereas those for Black women were most accurate. The study provided evidence that White women's inaccurate beliefs about their mates may lead to greater weight dissatisfaction.