Body Image Concerns and Sociocultural Ideals
Body image concerns and preoccupation are significantly high in America compared to other industrialized countries. Weight concern in British women, for example, is not excessive and there is little evidence of idealization of dangerously low weights (Wardle & Johnson, 2002). Other findings suggest that American college students are much more likely to worry about the way they look and to spend more time obsessing over their bodies than German students (Bohne et al., 2002). Body image disturbance or dissatisfaction, generally consisting of a subjective unhappiness with some aspect of one's appearance, is extremely prevalent and may be associated with psychological distress (e.g., depression) and functional impairment (Thompson et al., 1999). Degree of body dissatisfaction is often measured as the discrepancy between one's self-perceived real and ideal body size (Showers & Larson, 1999). Furthermore, body dissatisfaction is an established risk factor in the development of eating disorders (Stice & Whitenton, 2002). This highlights the importance of understanding the key features in the development of body dissatisfaction. The slender body type as a beauty standard for women is especially salient in the media, and several research
Recent research has explored the internalization of the thin ideal, transmitted through popular media and strengthened through social reinforcement, as a potential risk factor for the development of eating disorders and body image concerns (Cusumano & Thompson, 1997; Heinberg et al. That black women are at less of a risk for the development of anorexia and bulimia nervosa than white women is well documented (Gray et al. For example, in a study examining media exposure, awareness of societal ideals, and internalization of sociocultural messages, correlational and regression analyses failed to find any relationship between simple exposure and indices of body image, eating dysfunction, and self-esteem. A study examining the association between the SATAQ and eating and body concerns in 70 undergraduate college women supports Thompson's contention that internalization and awareness of the thin ideal may be independent (Low et al. The Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire (SATAQ) is a measure that purportedly assesses an individual's awareness and acceptance, or internalization, of societally sanctioned standards of appearance (Heinberg et al. Research also suggests that men face sociocultural expectations of attractiveness with an emphasis on physical fitness and perhaps stature as opposed to thinness (Petrie et al. An investigation of the effects of positive and negative feedback on body satisfaction among 33 black and 84 white undergraduate college women expanded upon this notion. In addition, studies have revealed that although black women are, on average, heavier than white women, fewer black women exhibit problematic eating behaviors, they possess greater body satisfaction, and they have less of a discrepancy between their perceived and ideal body size (Rucker & Cash, 1992; Rand & Kaldau, 1990; Abrams et al. ers have demonstrated how the female body depicted in the media has become increasingly thin (Garner et al.
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