Abstract
The present study aimed to explore the moderating role of three dimensions of media literacy on the relationship between media exposure and body dissatisfaction, mediated by thin-ideal internalization and appearance comparison among early female adolescents. A sample of 284 Australian female adolescents in single-sex schools (Mage = 13.15 years, range 11–16) reported on their media exposure, thin-ideal internalization, appearance comparison, body dissatisfaction, and three dimensions of media literacy: realism scepticism (scepticism regarding the extent to which media images portray reality, similarity scepticism (scepticism regarding the extent to which images portray a reality that is compatible with one’s personal experience), and critical thinking (with regard to the intention of the message, its meaning, and influence). Moderated mediation analyses were conducted. Findings revealed different patterns of relationships for the different dimensions of media literacy, with similarity scepticism moderating the mediated relationship between media exposure and body dissatisfaction via both thin-ideal internalization and appearance comparison. In contrast, reality scepticism and critical thinking revealed negative associations with body dissatisfaction but were not found to serve as moderators. Findings suggest that the mechanisms of action may vary for different dimensions of media literacy, and they highlight the importance of targeting media literacy in intervention and prevention efforts.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.
References
Austin, E. W., & Johnson, K. K. (1997). Immediate and delayed effects of media literacy training on third grader's decision making for alcohol. Health Communication, 9(4), 323–349. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327027hc0904_3.
Berel, S., & Irving, L. M. (1998). Media and disturbed eating: An analysis of media influence and implications for prevention. Journal of Primary Prevention, 18(4), 415–430. Retrieved from https://link-springer-com.ezproxy.neu.edu/content/pdf/10.1023%2FA%3A1022601625192.pdf.
Bucchianeri, M. M., Arikian, A. J., Hannan, P. J., Eisenberg, M. E., & Neumark-Sztainer, D. (2013). Body dissatisfaction from adolescence to young adulthood: Findings from a 10-year longitudinal study. Body Image, 10(1), 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2012.09.001.
Cash, T. F., Fleming, E. C., Alindogan, J., Steadman, L., & Whitehead, A. (2002). Beyond body image as a trait: The development and validation of the body image states scale. Eating Disorders, 10(2), 103–113. https://doi.org/10.1080/10640260290081678.
Ferguson, C. J. (2013). In the eye of the beholder: Thin-ideal media affects some, but not most, viewers in a meta-analytic review of body dissatisfaction in women and men. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 2(1), 20–37. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0030766.
Garner, D. M., Olmstead, M. P., & Polivy, J. (1983). Development and validation of a multidimensional eating disorder inventory for anorexia nervosa and bulimia. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 2(2), 15–34. https://doi.org/10.1002/1098-108X(198321)2:2<15::AID-EAT2260020203>3.0.CO;2-6.
Grabe, S., Ward, L. M., & Hyde, J. S. (2008). The role of the media in body image concerns among women: A meta-analysis of experimental and correlational studies. Psychological Bulletin, 134(3), 460–476. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.134.3.460.
Harris, R. J., & Sanborn, F. W. (2013). A cognitive psychology of mass communication. New York: Routledge.
Hausenblas, H. A., Campbell, A., Menzel, J. E., Doughty, J., Levine, M., & Thompson, J. K. (2013). Media effects of experimental presentation of the ideal physique on eating disorder symptoms: A meta-analysis of laboratory studies. Clinical Psychology Review, 33(1), 168–181. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2012.10.011.
Hayes, A. F. (2013). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach. New York: Guilford Press.
Hobbs, R. (1998). The seven great debates in the media literacy movement. Journal of Communication, 48(1), 16–32. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.1998.tb02734.x.
Holsen, I., Kraft, P., & Røysamb, E. (2001). The relationship between body image and depressed mood in adolescence: A 5-year longitudinal panel study. Journal of Health Psychology, 6(6), 613–627. https://doi.org/10.1177/135910530100600601.
Irving, L. M., & Berel, S. R. (2001). Comparison of media-literacy programs to strengthen college women's resistance to media images. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 25(2), 103–111. https://doi.org/10.1111/1471-6402.00012.
Keery, H., Van den Berg, P., & Thompson, J. K. (2004). An evaluation of the tripartite influence model of body dissatisfaction and eating disturbance with adolescent girls. Body Image, 1(3), 237–251. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2004.03.001.
Levine, M. P., & Murnen, S. K. (2009). “Everybody knows that mass media are/are not [pick one] a cause of eating disorders”: A critical review of evidence for a causal link between media, negative body image, and disordered eating in females. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 28(1), 9–42. https://doi.org/10.1521/jscp.2009.28.1.9.
López-Guimerà, G., Levine, M. P., Sánchez-Carracedo, D., & Fauquet, J. (2010). Influence of mass media on body image and eating disordered attitudes and behaviors in females: A review of effects and processes. Media Psychology, 13(4), 387–416. https://doi.org/10.1080/15213269.2010.525737.
McLean, S. A., Paxton, S. J., & Wertheim, E. H. (2013). Mediators of the relationship between media literacy and body dissatisfaction in early adolescent girls: Implications for prevention. Body Image, 10(3), 282–289. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2013.01.009.
McLean, S. A., Paxton, S. J., & Wertheim, E. H. (2016a). Does media literacy mitigate risk for reduced body satisfaction following exposure to thin-ideal media? Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 45, 1678–1695. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-016-0440-3.
McLean, S. A., Paxton, S. J., & Wertheim, E. H. (2016b). The role of media literacy in body dissatisfaction and disordered eating: A systematic review. Body Image, 19, 9–23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2016.08.002.
McLean, S. A., Paxton, S. J., & Wertheim, E. H. (2016c). The measurement of media literacy in eating disorder risk factor research: Psychometric properties of six measures. Journal of Eating Disorders, 4, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40337-016-0116-0.
Myers, P. N., & Biocca, F. A. (1992). The elastic body image: The effect of television advertising and programming on body image distortions in young women. Journal of Communication, 42(3), 108–133. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.1992.tb00802.x.
Neumark-Sztainer, D., Paxton, S. J., Hannan, P. J., Haines, J., & Story, M. (2006). Does body satisfaction matter? Five-year longitudinal associations between body satisfaction and health behaviors in adolescent females and males. Journal of Adolescent Health, 39(2), 244–251. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2005.12.001.
Paxton, S. J., Neumark-Sztainer, D., Hannan, P. J., & Eisenberg, M. E. (2006). Body dissatisfaction prospectively predicts depressive mood and low self-esteem in adolescent girls and boys. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 35(4), 539–549. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15374424jccp3504_5.
Perez, M., Kroon van Diest, A. M., Smith, H., & Sladek, M. R. (2016). Body dissatisfaction and its correlates in 5-to 7-year-old girls: A social learning experiment. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 47, 757–769. https://doi.org/10.1080/15374416.2016.1157758.
Primack, B. A., Gold, M. A., Switzer, G. E., Hobbs, R., Land, S. R., & Fine, M. J. (2006). Development and validation of a smoking media literacy scale for adolescents. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 160(4), 369–374. https://doi.org/10.1001/archpedi.160.4.369.
Rideout, V. J., Foehr, U. G., & Roberts, D. F. (2010). Generation M2: Media in the Lives of 8-to 18-year-olds. Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED527859.pdf.
Rodgers, R. F., Paxton, S. J., & McLean, S. A. (2014). A biopsychosocial model of body image concerns and disordered eating in early adolescent girls. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 43(5), 814–823. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-013-0013-7.
Rodgers, R. F., McLean, S. A., Marques, M., Dunstan, C. J., & Paxton, S. J. (2015). Trajectories of body dissatisfaction and dietary restriction in early adolescent girls: A latent class growth analysis. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 45, 1664–1677. https://doi.org/10.1007/s1096.
Rohde, P., Stice, E., & Marti, C. N. (2015). Development and predictive effects of eating disorder risk factors during adolescence: Implications for prevention efforts. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 48(2), 187–198. https://doi.org/10.1002/eat.22270.
Rubin, A. M. (1994). Media uses and effects: A uses-and-gratifications perspective. In J. Bryant & D. Zillmann (Eds.), LEA's communication series. Media effects: Advances in theory and research (pp. 417–436). Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc..
Schoemaker, C., van Strien, T., & van der Staak, C. (1994). Validation of the eating disorders inventory in a nonclinical population using transformed and untransformed responses. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 15(4), 387–393. https://doi.org/10.1002/eat.2260150409.
Scull, T. M., Kupersmidt, J. B., Parker, A. E., Elmore, K. C., & Benson, J. W. (2010). Adolescents’ media-related cognitions and substance use in the context of parental and peer influences. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 39(9), 981–998. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-009-9455-3.
Silverblatt, A., Miller, D. C., Smith, J., & Brown, N. (2014). Media literacy: Keys to interpreting media messages: Keys to interpreting media messages. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO.
Slater, A., Tiggemann, M., Hawkins, K., & Werchon, D. (2012). Just one click: A content analysis of advertisements on teen web sites. Journal of Adolescent Health, 50, 339–345. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2011.08.003.
Stice, E., & Shaw, H. E. (2002). Role of body dissatisfaction in the onset and maintenance of eating pathology: A synthesis of research findings. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 53(5), 985–993. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-3999(02)00488-9.
Thompson, J. K., & Stice, E. (2001). Thin-ideal internalization: Mounting evidence for a new risk factor for body-image disturbance and eating pathology. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 10(5), 181–183. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8721.00144.
Thompson, J. K., Heinberg, L., & Tantleff-Dunn, S. (1991). The physical appearance comparison scale. The Behavior Therapist, 14, 174.
Thompson, J. K., van den Berg, P., Roehrig, M., Guarda, A. S., & Heinberg, L. J. (2004). The sociocultural attitudes towards appearance Scale-3 (SATAQ-3): Development and validation. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 35(3), 293–304. https://doi.org/10.1002/eat.10257.
Tiggemann, M. (2003). Media exposure, body dissatisfaction and disordered eating: Television and magazines are not the same! European Eating Disorders Review, 11(5), 418–430. https://doi.org/10.1002/erv.502.
Tiggemann, M. (2005). Television and adolescent body image: The role of program content and viewing motivation. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 24(3), 361–381. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2004.03.001.
Tiggemann, M., & Slater, A. (2013). NetGirls: The internet, Facebook, and body image concern in adolescent girls. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 46(6), 630–633. https://doi.org/10.1002/eat.22141.
Want, S. C. (2009). Meta-analytic moderators of experimental exposure to media portrayals of women on female appearance satisfaction: Social comparisons as automatic processes. Body Image, 6(4), 257–269. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2009.07.008.
Acknowledgements
This work was conducted as an Honorary Researcher at La Trobe University.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of Interest
This study was funded by Australian Rotary Health. A PhD scholarship was awarded to the second author.
The authors report no conflict of interest.
Informed Consent
The study was approved by the ethnics committee of the University. All participants provided informed consent.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Rodgers, R.F., McLean, S.A. & Paxton, S.J. When Seeing Is Not Believing: An Examination of the Mechanisms Accounting for the Protective Effect of Media Literacy on Body Image. Sex Roles 81, 87–96 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-018-0973-x
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-018-0973-x