8 minute read
Abby Rusnack
The internalization of society’s thinness ideal for females becomes stronger as girls mature (Rogers et al., 2015). During puberty, many girls experience a dramatic increase in body fat percentage (Siervogel et al., 2003), and hence, they are pushed further from the desired thin body type promoted by peers, family, and the media (Bucchianeri et al., 2013; Chen et al., 2020; Hutchinson & Rapee, 2007; Rodgers et al., 2015). As a consequence, adolescent girls often experience body dissatisfaction, or low self-esteem resulting from a negative body image (e.g., of weight or body shape; Martijn et al., 2014; Rogers et al., 2015). One important source of this dissatisfaction is the disconnect between messages that promote the thinness ideal (e.g., from the media, peers, and parents) and their growing bodies (Bucchianeri et al., 2013; Siervogel et al., 2003). To cope with this dissatisfaction, adolescent girls may engage in disordered eating behaviors or weight loss strategies, such as dietary restraint or skipping meals, vomiting, inappropriate use of laxatives, or smoking (Croll et al., 2002; Ricciardelli et al., 2003). These behaviors pose a significant risk to their health and overall wellbeing (Bucchianeri et al., 2013), which warrants the following research question: What factors lead to body dissatisfaction in adolescent girls?
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The Roles of Media, Peers, and Parents
One influence on body dissatisfaction is media internalization (i.e., when individuals adopt media standards as something to compare themselves to; Rogers et al., 2015; Rogers et al., 2017). Research has shown that internalization of the media’s thinness ideal positively predicts body dissatisfaction and engagement in dietary restraint (Rogers et al., 2015; Rogers et al., 2017). Although girls as young as age three may begin to internalize a positive regard for a thin body type, the impact of media internalization only worsens as girls enter adolescence, when social media becomes an increasingly important part of their daily lives (Rogers et al., 2017; Rogers et al., 2020; Wilksch et al., 2019). During this time, girls have even more access to social media, which means they have more opportunities to view appearance-related images and idealize the thin body type (Meier & Gray, 2014; Scully et al., 2020). Girls may excessively compare themselves to bodies deemed more attractive than their own, thus enforcing a sense of dissatisfaction with the appearance of their own bodies, and resulting in low self-esteem (Rogers et al., 2015; Rogers et al., 2020).
While the media serves as an indirect influence, peers provide a more personal source for adolescent girls to make appearance-related comparisons that contribute to body dissatisfaction (Rayner et al., 2013). During this developmental period when girls place increasing importance on the values, attitudes, and beliefs of their friends, they are especially vulnerable to negative body image and eating disturbances encouraged by their friends (Hutchinson & Rapee, 2007). They appear to be the most susceptible to peer influence during early adolescence, perhaps because at this stage, they are forming new friendships (e.g., at the start of high school) and feel a desire to fit in (Hutchinson & Rapee, 2007). Reflecting this susceptibility, girls tend to choose peers with similar levels of body dissatisfaction and disordered eating behavior (Hutchinson & Rapee, 2007; Rayner et al. 2013). In turn, girls with high levels of peer support may also have high prevalence of disordered eating because through socialization, girls can connect over behaviors such as dietary restriction and bulimic tendencies (Croll et al., 2002; Hutchinson & Rapee, 2007; Rayner et al. 2013). This peer influence serves as a predictor of individual body concern and disordered eating behaviors (Hutchinson & Rapee, 2007).
Parental influence may be an additional reinforcer of the relationship between body dissatisfaction and disordered eating behaviors (Abdalla et al., 2020; Helfert & Warschburger, 2011; Neumark-Sztainer et al., 2010). Body dissatisfaction has been associated with adolescents’ perceptions of their parents’ views of their weight and body size, which may then contribute to weight control behaviors such as dieting and over-exercising (Abdalla et al., 2020; Helfert & Warschburger, 2011). It seems that even though this influence may merely be a perception of their parents’ opinions, it still prompts adolescent girls to act on their body dissatisfaction whether or not they are correct about how their parents viewed their bodies (Abdalla et al., 2020). Further, negative comments from parents, such as teasing about physical appearance, victimize adolescent girls and reinforce the idealization of the thin body type (Abdalla et al., 2020; Chen et al., 2020; Neumark-Sztainer et al., 2010). In turn, the negative emotions resulting from parental comments contribute to eating restraint and even emotional eating (Chen et al., 2020).
Conclusion
Society endorses the thin body type by way of various sociocultural influences and messages conveyed by the media, friends, and family. Adolescent girls, in particular, have been found to internalize these messages, resulting in body dissatisfaction and subsequent disordered eating behaviors (Croll et al., 2002; Rodgers et al., 2017). This literature review brings to light the need to target the body image messages adolescent girls hear from the media, family, and peers in order to decrease body dissatisfaction. Reducing the impact of these messages may in turn prevent disordered eating behaviors.
Although this review presents key findings regarding factors that influence body dissatisfaction, most studies focused on a specific population (i.e., Caucasian females), revealing a major limitation due to the lack of ethnic and cultural diversity. Additionally, socioeconomic status may affect the relationship between body dissatisfaction and disordered eating behaviors and should be addressed in further studies. Future interventions should focus on promoting more positive messages around how girls see themselves and their bodies to help them have a more positive relationship with their physical appearances.
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