The impact of thin models in music videos on adolescent girls' body dissatisfaction.
Music videos are a particularly influential, new form of mass media for adolescents, which include the depiction of scantily clad female models whose bodies epitomise the ultra-thin sociocultural ideal for young women. The present study is the first exposure experiment that examines the impact of thin models in music videos on the body dissatisfaction of 16-19-year-old adolescent girls (n=87). First, participants completed measures of positive and negative affect, body image, and self-esteem. Under the guise of a memory experiment, they then either watched three music videos, listened to three songs (from the videos), or learned a list of words. Affect and body image were assessed afterwards. In contrast to the music listening and word-learning conditions, girls who watched the music videos reported significantly elevated scores on an adaptation of the Body Image States Scale after exposure, indicating increased body dissatisfaction. Self-esteem was not found to be a significant moderator of this relationship. Implications and future research are discussed.
Bell
Beth T
BT
University of Leeds, UK.
Lawton
Rebecca
R
Dittmar
Helga
H
D000293:Adolescent; D000339:Affect; D001504:Beauty; D001828:Body Image; D004739:England; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007100:Imitative Behavior; D009146:Music; D012649:Self Concept; D012945:Social Values; D013851:Thinness / Q000523:psychology*; D014742:Videodisc Recording