Abstract
There is limited research that has examined experimentally the effects of muscular images on adolescent boys’ body image, with no research specifically examining the effects of music television. The aim of the current study was to examine the effects of viewing muscular and attractive singers in music video clips on early, mid, and late adolescent boys’ body image, mood, and schema activation. Participants were 180 boys in grade 7 (mean age = 12.73 years), grade 9 (mean age = 14.40 years) or grade 11 (mean age = 16.15 years) who completed pre- and post-test measures of mood and body satisfaction after viewing music videos containing male singers of muscular or average appearance. They also completed measures of schema activation and social comparison after viewing the clips. The results showed that the boys who viewed the muscular clips reported poorer upper body satisfaction, lower appearance satisfaction, lower happiness, and more depressive feelings compared to boys who viewed the clips depicting singers of average appearance. There was no evidence of increased appearance schema activation but the boys who viewed the muscular clips did report higher levels of social comparison to the singers. The results suggest that music video clips are a powerful form of media in conveying information about the male ideal body shape and that negative effects are found in boys as young as 12 years.
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Acknowledgments
We would like to extend our appreciation to Ben Lane and Jeremy Thomas who assisted with the preparation of the paper, to the schools for their cooperation with data collection, and the reviewers for their useful comments. Peter Rendell was supported by an Australian Research Council Discovery Grant.
Author contributions
KM initially conceived the study, was involved in the research design, and drafted the manuscript. DVK was involved in the design of the study and was responsible for the data collection and data entry. This paper forms part of her Masters thesis. PR assisted with access to the schools, the study design, and statistical analysis. All authors assisted with proof reading the final document and have approved the final submission.
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Mulgrew, K.E., Volcevski-Kostas, D. & Rendell, P.G. The Effect of Music Video Clips on Adolescent Boys’ Body Image, Mood, and Schema Activation. J Youth Adolescence 43, 92–103 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-013-9932-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-013-9932-6