Media Effects on Expectancies: Exposure to Realistic Female Images as a Protective Factor

An examination of eating and thinness expectancies as predictors of eating disturbances in females: evidence for cultural differences between European American and Chinese college students

PURPOSE

This study sought to examine the utility of eating expectancy, thinness expectancy, and the interactive role of both, in predicting eating disturbances (viz., bulimic symptoms and drive for thinness) in European American and Chinese female college students.

METHODS

A sample of 237 European American and 221 Chinese female college students completed measures of eating and thinness expectancies and eating disturbances.

RESULTS

Results of hierarchical regression analyses revealed that thinness expectancy significantly predicted increases in both drive for thinness and bulimic symptoms (with these increases being greater for European Americans), whereas eating expectancy predicted increases in bulimic symptoms only. In addition, for European Americans, a significant interaction for bulimic symptoms was found, revealing a synergistic increase in bulimic symptoms for those with both a high thinness expectancy and a high eating expectancy. For Chinese, a significant interaction for drive for thinness was found, demonstrating that for those with a high thinness expectancy, a higher eating expectancy was actually associated with a lower drive for thinness.

CONCLUSION

The present findings point to the value of examining for the co-presence of both expectancies in predicting eating disturbances while also highlighting cultural variations in the study of eating pathology.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE

Descriptive cross-sectional study, level V.

Does Internalizing Society and Media Messages Cause Body Dissatisfaction, in Turn Causing Disordered Eating?

The purpose of this study was to examine the predictive influence that internalization of society and media messages has on body dissatisfaction, as well as the prediction influence that body dissatisfaction has on disordered eating behaviors, such as preoccupation with weight, dieting, and eating restraint. A total of 324 participants completed the demographic questionnaire, the Multidimensional Body Self Relations Questionnaire (Cash, 2001 ), the Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire (Heinberg, Thompson, & Stormer, 1995 ) for women, and the Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire-Revised-Male-Version (Cusumano & Thompson, 1997 ) for men, and the locus of control (Rotter, 1966 ). The results of this study found that high internalization leads to body dissatisfaction, in turn, leading to disordered eating behaviors, such as preoccupation with weight, dieting, and eating restraint. This study proposes the implementation of media literacy and education programs that teach college women and men, girls and boys, to think more critically about the media.

Body ideals in women after viewing images of typical and healthy weight models

Viewing thin models, pervasive in popular culture, is correlated with body dissatisfaction and anxiety in women. Whether or not the same is true when viewing healthy weight models is unknown. In this study we tested whether viewing healthy weight models increases the ideal female body size. Body image, anxiety, happiness and depression were measured in 44 female participants following viewing of images of thin or healthy weight models (within-subject separated by two weeks). We found that after viewing images of healthy weight models, women's body ideals (as measured by a participant-adjusted virtual model) were significantly larger than when the same women viewed images of very thin models. This effect was greatest in those women with the highest levels of baseline anxiety (as measured by the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale). These results suggest that viewing healthy weight models results in more healthy body ideals than those typically promoted through media.

The acquired preparedness model of risk for bulimic symptom development

The authors applied person-environment transaction theory to test the acquired preparedness model of eating disorder risk. The model holds that (a) middle-school girls high in the trait of ineffectiveness are differentially prepared to acquire high-risk expectancies for reinforcement from dieting or thinness; (b) those expectancies predict subsequent binge eating and purging; and (c) the influence of the disposition of ineffectiveness on binge eating and purging is mediated by dieting or thinness expectancies. In a three-wave longitudinal study of 394 middle-school girls, the authors found support for the model. Seventh-grade girls' scores on ineffectiveness predicted their subsequent endorsement of high-risk dieting or thinness expectancies, which in turn predicted subsequent increases in binge eating and purging. Statistical tests of mediation supported the hypothesis that the prospective relation between ineffectiveness and binge eating was mediated by dieting or thinness expectancies, as was the prospective relation between ineffectiveness and purging. This application of a basic science theory to eating disorder risk appears fruitful, and the findings suggest the importance of early interventions that address both disposition and learning.

Health information sources accessed by college females: differences between body-image distorted and non-body-image distorted

This study examined and compared sources of health-related information accessed by female college students with and without body image distortions, and the believability of those sources. Survey data from the American College Health Association, National College Health Assessment were studied retrospectively (N = 27,648). Body image distorted (BID) and non-BID students' most frequent health information sources were parents (76.1% BID; 77.1% non-BID) and internet (70.3% BID; 69.5% non-BID). Believability was greatest for health educators (90.6% BID; 91.1% non-BID) and lowest for television (14.4% BID; 14.5% non-BID). Health intervention strategies for college women should market to parents and teach recognition of credible internet sources of health information.