The Role of Family, Community and the Media Play in Creating Body Image

The role of family, community and the media play in creating body image
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The role of family, community and the media play in creating body image
Part 1
Research Question/Topic
What role does family, community and the media play in creating body image?
Terms and Variables
The main terms include family, community, media and body image. Family, community and the media are the independent variables whereas body image is the dependent variable. Social and cultural standards of feminine attractiveness are presented in virtually every form of popular media, bombarding women and men with images portraying what is regarded as the perfect body. It is notable that such standards of beauty are mainly impossible to attain for most women considering that most models shown in adverts and on television are below what is regarded as healthy body weight (Haas et al., 2012). The use of unrealistic models in the media basically sends a message that for any woman to be seen as beautiful, she has to be unhealthy. Women are affected in a negative way by the continuous exposure to models who display the unrealistic media ideal of beauty (McCabe & McGreevy, 2011).
Theory/Conceptual Framework: Social Comparison Theory
According to the Social Comparison Theory (SCT), people determine their own personal and social worth basing upon how they stack up against other people. Therefore, they are always making self and other evaluations across various domains such as success, wealth, intelligence and attractiveness. This theory was conceptualized by Leon Festinger (1919-1989) and it explains the process through which individuals come to understand themselves through evaluating their own beliefs, abilities and attitudes in comparison to other people (Festinger, 1954). There are 2 sorts of social comparison: upward comparison and downward comparison. Upward comparison is when a person compares himself or herself to other people he or she perceives as being socially better than themselves. In general, this results in negative mood and could threaten self-evaluation (Melki et al., 2015). It is notable that upward comparisons enhance a person’s self image as they elicit behaviours to improve oneself. When there are discrepancies between the comparison standard and the self, individuals are motivated to alter the self so that they can more resemble the comparison standard (Festinger, 1954).
On the other hand, downward social comparison is when a person compares herself or himself to people whom he/she perceives as being less fortunate than himself/herself in some domain. This enhances mood as well as feelings of self-worth (Muñoz & Ferguson, 2012). Researchers have reported that women have considerably higher decreases in self-esteem and increases in negative affect as well as body image disturbance after they have viewed models who are thin than after they have viewed overweight women, normal-weight women and inanimate objects (Nerini, 2015). There are a variety of sources to which people could look for social comparison, and a very commanding influence is mass media, particularly for women. Magazines, adverts, TV, plus other sorts of popular media offer numerous references for upward social comparison (Kapidzic & Martins, 2015).
Researchers have reported that media plays a crucial role as regards social comparisons. A number of scholars investigating media’s social effects have employed social comparison theory and learned that women are typically inclined to engage in upward social comparisons with other women, leading to more bad feelings as regards the self (Javaid & Ahmad, 2014). It is notable that most women have a chance every day of making upward comparisons through gauging themselves against some type of societal ideal. In essence, social comparisons are an appropriate and pertinent means that can be used to learn about the appearance-related societal expectations amongst peers. It is also a relevant mechanism that can be used to evaluate the self in terms of those measures (Melki et al., 2015). Even though men also make upward comparisons, more women actually make upward comparisons. Women often compare themselves with high standards that are depicted in the media which are not realistic. As they see more images of slender, successful and powerful women in the mainstream media, women regard the ideal as being the norm for societal perspectives of attractiveness. While some women make upward comparisons positively for self-motivation purposes, most of them often make upward comparisons whenever they are feeling lesser and thus evoking a negative denotation (Slevec & Tiggemann, 2010).
Methodology
This would be a qualitative research. A total of 250 participants including 125 women and 125 men would take part in the study. The participants would be aged 18-60 years. They would be handed questionnaire surveys to determine how family, community and media influences their body image.
Data sources
Primary data sources will include focus groups and in-depth interviews. Secondary data sources will include previous research on the topic, scholarly journal articles, and websites from reputable organizations.
Literature Review Outline
Influence of mother, father and siblings on body image
Influence of the community/friends/peers on body image
Influence of mass media, television, adverts and magazines on body image
Annotated Bibliography
Cramblitt, B., & Pritchard, M. (2013). Media's influence on the drive for muscularity in undergraduates. Eating Behaviors, 14(4), 441-446. doi:10.1016/j.eatbeh.2013.08.003
In their study, Cramblitt and Pritchard (2013) carried out an online survey to examine media use, internalization of appearance and body shape ideals, and the drive for muscularity. The sample size comprised 311 study subjects including women and men. The findings demonstrated that the more time the participants reported watching TV, the higher their reported drive for muscularity. In male participants, drive for muscularity related to reading men’s health magazines and viewing image-focused TV programs. In women, total hours of watching entertainment, image-focused, sports-related TV programs related to increased drive for muscularity (Crambitt & Pritchard, 2013).
Curtis, C., & Loomans, C. (2014). Friends, family, and their influence on body image dissatisfaction. Women's Studies Journal, 28(2), 39-56.
Curtis and Loomans (2014) examined the influence that friends and family have on body image dissatisfaction (BID) of young women in New Zealand. The results indicate that friends and family have a considerable, although largely unrecognized, influence. The study design was in-depth interviews. The participants described several sources of dissatisfaction which discourage them from increasing body weight and becoming fat. Some of them are advice from friends, mothers’ self-criticism, well-meaning behaviour of family members, and how friends talked about observations of other people.
Eisend, M., & Möller, J. (2010). The influence of TV viewing on consumers' body images and related consumption behavior. Marketing Letters, 18(1/2), 101-116. doi:10.1007/s11002-006-9004-8
Basing on gender research, self-concept theories and cultivation theory, Eisend and Moller (2010) investigated the influence of watching television on male and female consumers’ perceived body images as well as related consumption behaviour. According to their findings, watching television biases perceptions of body images but watching television does not impact the consumption behaviour in men. Quite the opposite, watching television increases the real-ideal self discrepancy for women which consequently results in consumption behaviour so as to attain the ideal bodies. For women and men, watching television increases body dissatisfaction.
Ferguson, C. J., Munoz, M. E., Contreras, S., & Velasquez, K. (2011). Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: Peer Competition, Television Influences, and Body Image Dissatisfaction. Journal Of Social & Clinical Psychology, 30(5), 458-483. doi:10.1521/jscp.2011.30.5.458
In this article, Ferguson et al. (2011) report on 2 research studies of body dissatisfaction. The 2 studies explored the comparative significance of media and peer influences on body dissatisfaction. The findings of the first study which comprised 150 young women showed that when competitive females were present, body dissatisfaction increased, especially when there was a desirable male around. The findings of the second study which consisted of 383 teenage girls showed that body dissatisfaction related mainly to BMI, anxiety and depression. Peer influences and exposure to TV did not predict body dissatisfaction. Nonetheless, exposure to TV and competition with unfriendly young women predicted feelings of inferiority response to other young women.
Francisco, R., Narciso, I., & Alarcão, M. (2013). Parental Influences on Elite Aesthetic Athletes' Body Image Dissatisfaction and Disordered Eating. Journal Of Child & Family Studies, 22(8), 1082-1091. doi:10.1007/s10826-012-9670-5
Francisco, Narciso and Alarcao (2013) investigated the role that particular family variables play on the disordered eating and body image dissatisfaction of aesthetic athletes. The results demonstrated that amongst the athletes, the only major predictive family variable are direct parental influences, which could actually reinforce the pressure to be slender and slim as found within elite-aesthetic contexts. The results underscore the significance of crucial parental comments in aesthetic athletes’ expression of body image dissatisfaction and disordered eating, as well as maternal modelling amongst adolescent girls within the general population.
Lawrie, Z., Sullivan, E. A., Davies, P. W., & Hill, R. J. (2010). Media Influence on the Body Image of Children and Adolescents. Eating Disorders, 14(5), 355-364. doi:10.1080/10640260600952506
In studying the media messages that are portrayed to youngsters, a total of 925 students aged 9-14 filled out the Sociocultural Influences Questionnaire. The responses were used in examining the media’s influence to increase size of muscles, to add weight, or to be thinner. The results demonstrated that even as both boys and girls demonstrated dissimilar agreement levels with each media influence, they both did not agree that media messages implied that they need to increase weight. This is consistent with the idea that the media serves to perpetuate the ideal of slenderness and there is a negative stigma linked to being overweight.
McCabe, M. P.,...