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

Pregnancy through the Looking-Glass: correlates of disordered eating attitudes among a sample of Lebanese pregnant women

INTRODUCTION

Despite the risks of gestational disordered eating for both the mother and fetus, research into this subject is scarce within developing countries, particularly in Lebanon. Our study's objective was to delve into the predictors of disordered eating attitudes during pregnancy among a sample of Lebanese pregnant women while assessing the potential mediating effect of body dissatisfaction between psychosocial factors and disordered eating attitudes in pregnancy.

METHODS

We framed a cross-sectional study, built on self-report measures. Pregnant women of 18 years old and above were recruited from all the Lebanese governorates through an online survey (N = 433).

RESULTS

The results showed that higher pregnancy-specific hassles (Beta = 0.19), media and pregnant celebrities' influence (Beta = 0.22), and body dissatisfaction (Beta = 0.17) were significantly associated with increased disordered eating attitudes in pregnancy; whereas higher perceived social support (Beta = -0.03), lower socio-economic status (Beta = -0.84), and multigravidity (Beta = -0.96) were significantly associated with less disordered eating attitudes during pregnancy. Body dissatisfaction mediated the association between pregnancy-specific hassles and disordered eating attitudes, and between social appearance concerns and disordered eating attitudes.

CONCLUSION

Our study highlighted that antenatal care, particularly in Lebanon, should no longer be limited to biological monitoring but rather seek to identify possible eating disorders and mental health threats. Further investigations following longitudinal designs should pursue identifying additional correlates of gestational disordered eating in the clinical context, in furtherance of consolidating screening programs and building targeted treatment strategies.

Images of bodies in mass and social media and body dissatisfaction: The role of internalization and self-discrepancy

Introduction

The study examines the influence on body dissatisfaction of viewed images of bodies transmitted over mass media and social media, as mediated by the internalization of body ideals through media and self-discrepancy (the difference between the perceived actual self and the perceived ideal self).

Method

In this study, the images of bodies individuals view in their everyday media diet are estimated using a newly developed pictorial scale for women (thinness) and men (muscularity). For participants, the perceived body image is formed through mass media (magazines, TV) and social media (Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Snapchat). The self-discrepancy theory is then used to explain the effect of images of bodies in the media on the internalization of these body ideals and body dissatisfaction.

Results

Results show that Facebook and YouTube shape body ideals perceived to be prevalent in the media, negatively influencing internalization and self-discrepancy. Self-discrepancy, in turn, increases body dissatisfaction. However, for males, the perceived body ideals in the media did not affect body dissatisfaction, internalization, or self-discrepancy.

Discussion

These results emphasize the importance of combining and comparing mass and social media and differentiating between female and male concerns regarding body image.

Social Media Use and Body Dissatisfaction in Adolescents: The Moderating Role of Thin- and Muscular-Ideal Internalisation

Internalisation of appearance ideals moderates the relationship between exposure to media images and body dissatisfaction. To date, the role of thin- and muscular-ideal internalisation in the context of social media remains under explored, particularly for boys. As such, we aimed to explore how social media use (Instagram and Snapchat) was related to body dissatisfaction, and whether thin- and muscular-ideal internalisation would moderate this relationship in a sample of 1153 adolescent boys and girls (55.42% males; M_age = 13.71, SD = 1.14). As hypothesised, social media use, and thin- and muscular ideal internalisation were positively correlated with body dissatisfaction in both genders. In moderation analyses, thin-ideal internalisation emerged as the only variable that had a significant effect on body dissatisfaction in both genders. Additionally, the influence of social media use on body dissatisfaction was moderated by muscular-ideal internalisation in boys, whereby for boys with high muscular-ideal internalisation, greater social media use was associated with greater body dissatisfaction. The two-way (muscular x thin-ideal internalisation) and three-way interaction (social media use x thin-ideal internalisation x muscular-ideal internalisation) effects on body dissatisfaction were non-significant. These findings emphasise the importance of considering the sociocultural environment (i.e., new media influences) as frameworks for understanding body dissatisfaction and suggest targeting of internalisation of appearance ideals in body dissatisfaction prevention programs.

What Type of Body Shape Moves Children? An Experimental Exploration of the Impact of Narrative Cartoon Character Body Shape on Children's Narrative Engagement, Wishful Identification, and Exercise Motivation

Background

The incorporation of narratives helps to enhance children’s engagement in active video games (AVGs), thus increasing moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). Specific narrative elements, such as the visual representation of the characters’ body shape, have been rarely manipulated to explore their role in modulating children’s narrative engagement (NE) and exercise motivation.

Objective

To investigate the effects of character body shape manipulation (overweight/obese, average, or athletic slim) on children’s narrative immersion (NI), NE, wishful identification (WI), as well as their mediating effect on AVG and PA motivation.

Methods

Children ages 8–12 years old (N = 87) were randomly assigned to watch a 15-min animated video (designed for an existing AVG) in which the main characters had an overweight/obese, or average^∗, or athletic slim body shape (all other elements were identical). Children’s NI, NE, WI, and AVG and physical activity (PA) motivation were then assessed.

Results

Controlling for social desirability, the analysis indicated that participants with a BMI of greater than the 75th percentile had a significantly higher NI, NE, WI, and PA motivation when video characters were set to the overweight/obese condition, than they did for video characters set to the average or athletic slim conditions. On the other hand, children of equal or less than the 75th percentile exposed to the average character body condition had a greater NE, WI, and PA motivation than overweight/obese or athletic slim conditions. A mediation analysis with structural equation modeling indicated that NE mediated the effect between character body shape and AVG and PA motivation.

Conclusion

Narrative cartoon characters that mirror the target participant’s body shape can increase NE, which in turn mediates AVG and PA motivation. Content producers should identify optimal strategies in character body shape design to encourage children of different weight status to participate in PA with engaging stories to maximize health narratives’ persuasive potentials.

^∗The term average in this sense is not in reference to the national average body weight, but rather an average of the body weights represented in conditions A and C.

Prevalence and correlates of body dissatisfaction and disordered eating patterns in Indian youth: The role of media

BACKGROUND

The current study aimed to assess how media internalization and pressure are associated with body mass index (BMI), disordered eating, and body image dissatisfaction in Indian adults and whether there exist gender differences within these variables. The study also aimed to examine whether BMI and media internalization and pressure predict body dissatisfaction and disordered eating.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The study utilized self-report measures that were administered to 262 men and women between the ages of 18-25 years (M = 21.64).

RESULTS

The results indicated that BMI was significantly correlated with internalization athlete, body shape dissatisfaction, and disordered eating, but not internalization general or media pressure. Internalization general, internalization athlete, media pressure as well as body shape dissatisfaction, and disordered eating were found to be positively correlated. Men and women did not significantly differ on any variable, but internalization athlete. Overweight and obese men and women were found to be significantly more dissatisfied than underweight and normal-weight men and women; however, the difference was not significant for overweight and obese males and normal-weight and overweight females. In addition, media influence and BMI significantly predicted body dissatisfaction and disordered eating.

CONCLUSIONS

The present study contributes to a novel understanding of body image concerns and risk for clinical eating disorders in Indian youth and potential implications for future research.

The Development of the Internalization of Sociocultural Body Ideals Scale Using Items From the Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire: Validity, Reliability, and Measurement Invariance Testing

Eating disorders and body image disturbance are known to result in unhealthy consequences. When attempting to understand the etiology and management of these disorders, sociocultural models of body image disturbance and disordered eating have been predominant. The objective of the present study was to develop and validate the Internalization of Sociocultural Body Ideals Scale (ISBIS), a psychometric instrument that utilizes items from various versions of the Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire (SATAQ). The ISBIS was developed to overcome some of the limitations found in existing instruments (including the SATAQ) that assess the internalization of sociocultural body ideals. The sample comprised 1130 students aged between 10 and 14 years. The psychometric properties of the ISBIS were examined using different analyses. The results supported the eight-item structure: four items for thin body ideal internalization and four items for thin body muscular/athletic internalization. The structure showed invariance to gender and achieved acceptable internal consistency and temporal stability indexes. Controlling for gender and body mass index, the results also showed that the internalization of the thin body ideal positively predicted social-physique anxiety in a statistically significant way. The results provide empirical evidence that the ISBIS is a reliable and valid instrument for assessing sociocultural body ideals in Spanish preadolescents.

Predictors of Disordered Eating in Young Males

Recent findings suggest that disordered eating (DE) symptomatology may be underestimated in the male population. The present study examined depressive symptomatology as a potential mediator of the relationships between body image dissatisfaction, strategies to change body weight and muscles, media pressure, and DE (emotional, restrained and emotional eating) in 260 male undergraduates who completed a self-reported questionnaire. Path analyses indicated that media influence and strategies to decrease body weight had direct positive effects on depressive symptomatology, which in turn predicted emotional eating. Media influence had a direct positive effect on emotional eating, whereas strategies to decrease body weight did not exhibit a direct effect on emotional eating. Therefore, the latter pathway was removed from the model. The link between media pressure, strategies to decrease body weight and emotional eating was partially mediated by depressive symptomatology. The present findings can inform the development and implementation of prevention and education programs for DE in schools and universities.