Written and pictorial content in magazines

and their potential relationship to eating

disorders

Kornlia Szab & Ferenc Try

Semmelweis University Institute of Behavioural Sciences

Budapest, Hungary

Alpbach, 2011

Table of contents

Magazines and eating pathology

Magazine contents

Magazine covers and headlines

Summary

Magazines

Time spent reading magazines: 83% of adolescent girls read fashion magazines for an average of 4.3 hours per week1

More than 98% of females read womens beauty and fashion magazines at least once a year2

60%: once a month, 38% twice a month or more3

Magazines influence or shape:

personal values about thinness

gender socialization, gender role endorsement

identity development, personality

concerns with physical appearance and eating behaviours

1Levine & Smolak, 1996; 2Thomsen, Weber & Brown, 2002 (n=502, highschool females); 3Thomsen, Mccoy, Gustafson, & Williams, 2002 (n=536, college-age women)

Magazine reading and eating pathology

Body (dis)satisfaction1,2,3,4

Internalization1

Drive for thinnes2

Social comparison5,6

Eating disorder symptomatology2,4

Higher among those at risk for ED (vulnerability)7

1Morry & Staska, 2001; 2Harrison & Cantor, 1997; 3Bissell & Zhou (2004); 4Stice, Schupak-Neuberg, Shaw, and Stein (1994); 5Durkin & Paxton, 2002; 6 van den Berg, Thompson, Obremski-Brandon, & Coovert, 2002; 7Stice 2002.

Magazine reading and weight control methods/techniques

Frequency of healthy, unhealthy, and extreme weight-control behaviours1,2

Importance of muscularity/thinness

Methods to obtain these perfect bodies

Dietary restraint behaviour1,diets3,diet pills2

Supplements4: 4,7% boys/ 1,6% girls used for improving weight and shape

Exercise

Both males and females

1van den Berg, Neumark-Sztainer, Hannan and Haines, 2007; 2Thomsen, Weber & Brown, 2002; 3Utter et al., 2003; 4Field et al., 2005.

Magazine contents

1. Pictorial (slim/muscular models)

2. Written (ED-stories)

3. Advertisements

4. Nutrition/Fitness/ Diet content

5. Covers and headlines

Pictorial magazine content

Cultural representation of thinness

Slim women/Muscular men

Change over time (1960-2011)

Body image is significantly more negative after viewing thin media images1

1Groesz et al.,2002: Meta analytic review

Written magazine content

Media mostly sensationalizes, simplifies ED- stories1,2,3

ED stories are most often told about celebrities1

Clinical complications and medical treatments are rarely mentioned1,3

Medical views about causation and treatment are more salient in later years2

1OHara and Clegg-Smith, 2007; 2Shepherd & Seale, 2010; 3Bishop, 2001

Written magazine content

Inch & Merali, 2006: A 5 year long study, 42 popular magazine articles were coded:

-illness type -mention of weight loss -disordered behaviours -health impacts Anorexics are more often profiled Disordered behaviours as achieving

weight loss is more often mentioned than their physical consequences

Advertisements in magazines

Weight loss advertisements:

Nearly 40% of weight loss ads make a representation that is almost certainly false1

10 times more diet ads or articles in women magazines2

Food advertising increasingly portrays food as a type of medicine3

1Federal Trade Comission report, 2002; 2Silverstein & DiDomenico, 1992; 3Zwier, 2009; 4Evans et al., 1991

Nutrition/Fitness/Diet related magazine content

Increase in content1

Dieting

Exercise

Combined plans

Focus on body shape, appearance and weight loss

Statements that the product or service would promote weight loss were found in 47% of nutrition-related advertisements1

1Guillen & Barr, 1994

Magazine covers and headlines

Diet and body image related headlines1

Women should be thin, beautiful and attractive to men1

Malkin et al., 1999:

78% of female magazine covers contained messages regarding bodily appearance

25% of covers contained conflicting messages regarding weight loss and dietary habits

Positioning: losing weight may lead to a better life

1Davalos et al, 2007

Summary

Media is not necessarily a causal risk factor

Media is interacting with other variables

Media literacy prevention programs are important

More research is needed (longitudinal studies, motivational factors)

Direct media effects may be small to modest1, but the combination of direct and indirect effects may be considerable2

1Groesz et al., 2002; 2Harrison & Hefner, 2006; Levine et al., 1994;

THE END kornelia.szabo@net.sote.hu