01-04-2006 | Uitgave 2/2006
Media Exposure, Current and Future Body Ideals, and Disordered Eating Among Preadolescent Girls: A Longitudinal Panel Study
- Tijdschrift:
- Journal of Youth and Adolescence > Uitgave 2/2006
Belangrijke opmerkingen
Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois. Received PhD in communication with a minor in social and developmental psychology from the University of Wisconsin in 1997. Major research interests are mass media effects on self-perceptions and health among children and adolescents.
Doctoral student in the Department of Speech Communication at the University of Illinois. Received MA in speech communication in the same department in 2005. Major research interests concern the ways mass communication processes and effects interact with interpersonal communication processes and effects.
Internalization of the thin body ideal is considered by many to account for the relationship between media exposure and disordered eating among girls and young women, but almost all supporting research has employed adolescent and adult samples. Using longitudinal panel survey data collected from 257 preadolescent girls at 2 points in time 1 year apart, we tested relationships between self-reported television and magazine exposure at wave 1 and current (prepubescent) and future (postpubescent) body ideals and disordered eating at wave 2. Controlling age, race, perceived body size, and body ideals and disordered eating measured at wave 1, television viewing at wave 1 predicted increased disordered eating and a thinner postpubescent body ideal at wave 2. In contrast, none of the media variables predicted a thinner prepubescent body ideal at wave 2. These findings suggest that the thin-ideal internalization construct needs refinement to enhance its developmental sensitivity.