Objective: Although studies have demonstrated that the media-portrayed thin-ideal images and social comparison processes increase body dissatisfaction and negative affect, research has not tested whether women experience pluralistic ignorance by believing that the thin-ideal is an achievable norm. Method: In Study 1, 172 women completed a questionnaire that assessed the extent to which a participant believed that the thin-ideal body image represented the normative body size among women. In Study 2, 356 women participated in a five condition experiment that manipulated the body size of an attractive college student (i.e., thin-ideal or average-sized) and information about the achievability of the woman’s body size (i.e., achievable, not achievable, or no information). Results: Study 1 found no evidence that thin-ideal norm endorsement affected body dissatisfaction or negative affect. Study 2 revealed an increase in body dissatisfaction but not negative affect in the thin-ideal achievable and thin-ideal no information conditions. The results also indicated a marginally significant decrease in negative views of the self in the average-sized achievable and average-sized no information conditions. Furthermore, participants with low self-esteem or poor social support felt better in the average-sized achievable condition when compared to the thin-ideal achievable condition. Also, participants with a higher BMI felt more depressed in the thin-ideal achievable condition when compared to the average-sized achievable condition. Discussion: Results suggest that thin-ideal norm endorsement increased body dissatisfaction by way of social comparative processes and perhaps, pluralistic ignorance. Because participants with low self-esteem or poor social support felt better after seeing an average-sized peer who was said to be the achievable ideal, these results have implications for clinical treatment and prevention interventions. / text
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UTEXAS/oai:repositories.lib.utexas.edu:2152/17924 |
| Date | 18 September 2012 |
| Creators | Krones, Pamela Gayle, 1965- |
| Source Sets | University of Texas |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Format | electronic |
| Rights | Copyright is held by the author. Presentation of this material on the Libraries' web site by University Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin was made possible under a limited license grant from the author who has retained all copyrights in the works. |
Page generated in 0.0022 seconds