The primary aim of our study was to examine the influence of media exposure on body dissatisfaction and disordered eating in middle-aged women. A sample of 101 women, aged between 35 and 55 years, completed questionnaire measures of media exposure, thin-ideal internalization, social comparison, appearance investment, aging anxiety, body dissatisfaction, and disordered eating. Television, but not magazine exposure, was positively related to body dissatisfaction and disordered eating. In contrast, both television and magazine exposure were positive correlates of all four proposed media-processing variables (internalization, social comparison, appearance investment, and aging anxiety), which were themselves positive correlates of both body dissatisfaction and disordered eating. Structural equation modelling revealed that the influence of media exposure was fully mediated by the proposed media processes. The analyses also indicated that our proposed sociocultural model of disordered eating provided a reasonably good fit to the data, suggesting that sociocultural theory can be extended to women of middle-age. An important practical implication of this finding is that strategies aimed at challenging and minimizing these media processes may reduce some of the negative impact of media exposure in middle-aged women.
AbramsL. S.StormerC. C. (2002). Sociocultural variations in the body image perceptions of urban adolescent females. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 31, 443–450.
2.
AllazA. F.BernsteinM.RougetP.ArchinardM.MorabiaA. (1998). Body weight preoccupation in middle-age and aging women: A general population survey. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 23, 287–294.
3.
American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed., text rev.). Washington, DC: Author
4.
Australian Bureau of Statistics (2006). Information paper: An introduction to socio-economic indexes for areas (SEIFA), 2006. Retrieved from http://www.ausstats.abs.gov.au/
5.
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2009). National health survey: Summary of results, 2007-2008 (Reissue). Retrieved from http://www.ausstats.abs.gov.au/
6.
Banet-WeiserS.Portwood-StacerL. (2006). “I just want to be me again!” Beauty pageants, reality television and postfeminism. Feminist Theory, 7, 255–272.
7.
BennettK.StevensR. (1996). Weight anxiety in older women. European Eating Disorders Review, 4, 32–39.
8.
BessenoffG. R.Del PrioreR. E. (2007). Women, weight, and age: Social comparison to magazine images across the lifespan. Sex Roles, 56, 215–222.
9.
BordoS. (2003). Unbearable weight: Feminism, western culture and the body. Berkely and Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press.
10.
BrownT. A.CashT. F.MikulkaP. J. (1990). Attitudinal body-image assessment: Factor analysis of the body-self relations questionnaire. Journal of Personality Assessment, 55, 135–144.
11.
CashT. F.HenryP. E. (1995). Women’s body images: The results of a national survey in the USA. Sex Roles, 33, 19–28.
12.
CashT. F.MelnykS. E.HraboskyJ. I. (2004). The assessment of body image investment: An extensive revision of the appearance schemas inventory. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 35, 305–316.
13.
CoomberK.KingR. (2008). The role of sisters in body image dissatisfaction and disordered eating. Sex Roles, 59, 81–93.
14.
CumellaE. J.KallyZ. (2008). Comparison of middle-age and young women inpatients with eating disorders. Eating and Weight Disorders, 13, 183–190.
15.
DittmarH. (2005). Vulnerability factors and processes linking sociocultural pressures and body dissatisfaction. Journal of Social & Clinical Psychology, 24, 1081–1087.
16.
FeingoldA.MazzellaR. (1988). Gender differences in body image are increasing. Psychological Science, 9, 190–195.
17.
ForbesG. B.Adams-CurtisL.JobeR. L.WhiteK. B.RevakJ.Zivcic-BecirevicI.Pokrajac-BulianA. (2005). Body dissatisfaction in college women and their mothers: Cohort effects, developmental effects, and the influences of body size, sexism, and the thin body ideal. Sex Roles, 53, 281–298.
18.
FormanM.DavisW. N. (2005). Characteristics of middle-aged women in inpatient treatment for eating disorders. Eating Disorders, 13, 231–243.
19.
GarnerD. M.OlmsteadM. P.PolivyJ. (1983). Development and validation of a multidimensional eating disorder inventory for anorexia nervosa and bulimia. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 2, 15–34.
20.
GarrowJ. S.WebsterB. S. (1985). Quetelet’s Index (W/H2) as a measure of fatness. International Journal of Obesity, 9, 147–153.
21.
GrabeS.WardL. M.HydeJ. S. (2008). The role of the media in body image concerns among women: A meta-analysis of experimental and correlational studies. Psychological Bulletin, 134, 460–476.
22.
GroganS. (2008). Body image: Understanding body dissatisfaction in men, women, and children. New York, NY: Routledge.
23.
GuptaM. A.SchorkN. J. (1993). Aging related concerns and body image: Possible future implications for eating disorders. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 14, 481–486.
24.
HarrisonK.CantorJ. (1997). The relationship between media consumption and eating disorders. Journal of Communication, 47, 40–67.
25.
Hesse-BiberS.LeavyP.QuinnC. E.ZoinoJ. (2006). The mass marketing of disordered eating and eating disorders: The social psychology of women, thinness and culture. Women’s Studies International Forum, 29, 208–224.
26.
HolmbeckG. (1997). Toward terminological, conceptual, and statistical clarity in the study of mediators and moderators: Examples from the child-clinical and pediatric psychology literatures. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 65, 599–610.
27.
HuL.BentlerP. (1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indices in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modelling, 6, 1–55.
28.
JeffersonD.L.StakeJ. E. (2009). Appearance self-attitudes of African American and European-American women: Media comparisons and internalization of beauty ideals. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 33, 396–409.
29.
KatzW. A. (2005). An examination of the relationship between physical appearance, personality, internalization of sociocultural norms, and anxiety about aging among middle-aged White women. Dissertation Abstracts International, 66, 2826.
30.
KeeryH.ShroffH.ThompsonJ. K.WertheimE.SmolakL. (2004). The Sociocultural Internalization of Appearance Questionnaire – Adolescents (SIAQ-A): Psychometric analysis and normative data for three countries. Eating and Weight Disorders: Studies on Anorexia and Obesity, 9, 56–61.
31.
KozarJ. M.DamhorstM. L. (2009). Comparison of the ideal and real body as women age: Relationships to age identity, body satisfaction and importance, and attention to models in advertising. Clothing & Textiles Research Journal, 27, 197–210.
32.
KozeeH. B.TylkaT. L. (2006). A test of objectification theory with lesbian women. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 30, 348–357.
33.
LasherK. P.FaulkenderP. J. (1993). Measurement of aging anxiety: Development of the anxiety about aging scale. International Journal of Aging & Human Development, 37, 247–259.
34.
LevineM. P.MurnenS. K. (2009). “Everybody knows that mass media are/are not [pick one] a cause of eating disorders”: A critical review of evidence for a causal link between media, negative body image, and disordered eating in females. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 28, 9–42.
35.
LewisD.CachelinF. M. (2001). Body image, body dissatisfaction, and eating attitudes in midlife and elderly women. Eating Disorders: The Journal of Treatment & Prevention, 9, 29–39.
36.
MarcusM. D.BrombergerJ. T.WeiH. L.BrownC.KravitzH. M. (2007). Prevalence and selected correlates of eating disorder symptoms among a multiethnic community sample of midlife women. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 33, 269–277.
37.
MatzP. E.FosterG. D.FaithM. S.WaddenT. A. (2002). Correlates of body image dissatisfaction among overweight women seeking weight loss. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 70, 1040–1044.
38.
McCabeM. P.RicciardelliL. A.JamesT. (2007). A longitudinal study of body change strategies of fitness center attendees. Eating Behaviors, 8, 492–496.
39.
McKinleyN. M. (1999). Women and objectified body consciousness: Mothers’ and daughters’ body experience in cultural, developmental, and familial context. Developmental Psychology, 35, 760–769.
40.
McKinleyN. M.LyonL. A. (2008). Menopausal attitudes, objectified body consciousness, aging anxiety, and body esteem: European American women’s body experiences in midlife. Body Image, 5, 375–380.
41.
McKnight Risk Factor Study. (2000, March). Ethnic group differences in disordered eating attitudes and behaviors and related risk factors. Paper presented at the Ninth International Conference on Eating Disorders, New York, NY
42.
McLarenL.HardyR.KuhD. (2003). Women’s body satisfaction at midlife and lifetime body size: A prospective study. Health Psychology, 22, 370–377.
43.
McLeanS. A.PaxtonS. J.WertheimE. H. (2009). Factors associated with body dissatisfaction and disordered eating in women in midlife. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 43, 527–536.
44.
MidlarskyE.NitzburgG. (2008). Eating disorders in middle-aged women. Journal of General Psychology, 135, 393–407.
45.
MorrisonM. A.MorrisonT. G.SagerC. L. (2004). Does body satisfaction differ between gay men and lesbian women and heterosexual men and women? A meta-analytic review. Body Image, 1, 127–138.
46.
PeatC. M.PeyerlN. L.MuehlenkampJ. J. (2008). Body image and eating disorders in older adults: A review. The Journal of General Psychology, 135, 343–358.
47.
PerezM.HernandezA.ClarkeA.JoinerT. E.Jr. (2007). Analysis of bulimic symptomatology across age and geographic locations. Eating Behaviors, 8, 136–142.
48.
PlinerP.ChaikenS.FlettG. (1990). Gender differences in concern with body weight and physical appearance over the life span. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 16, 263–273.
49.
PodarI.AllikJ. (2009). A cross-cultural comparison of the eating disorder inventory. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 42, 346–355.
50.
ProcopioC. A.Holm-DenomaJ. M.GordonK. H.JoinerT. E. (2006). Two-three-year stability and interrelations of bulimotypic indicators and depressive and anxious symptoms in middle-aged women. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 39, 312–319.
51.
RicciardelliL. A.McCabeM. P. (2004). A biopsychosocial model of disordered eating and the pursuit of muscularity in adolescent boys. Psychological Bulletin, 130, 179–205.
52.
RodinJ.SilbersteinL.Striegel-MooreR. (1985). Women and weight: A normative discontent. In SonderegeerT. B. (Ed.), Psychology and gender (pp. 267–307). Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press.
53.
SabikN. J.ColeE. R.WardL. M. (2010). Are all minority women equally buffered from negative body iamge? Intra-ethnic moderators of the buffering hypothesis. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 34, 139–151.
54.
SaucierM. G. (2004). Midlife and beyond: Issues for aging women. Journal of Counseling & Development, 82, 420–425.
55.
SchoemakerC.van StrienT.van der StaakC. (1994). Validation of the eating disorder inventory in a nonclinical population using transformed and untransformed scores. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 15, 387–393.
56.
ShareT. L.MintzL. B. (2002). Differences between lesbians and heterosexual women in disordered eating and related attitudes. Journal of Homosexuality, 42, 89–106.
57.
ShawH.RamirezL.TrostA.RandallP.SticeE. (2004). Body image and eating disturbances across ethnic groups: More similarities than differences. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 18, 12–18.
58.
ShroffH.ThompsonK. (2006). The tripartite influence model of body image and eating disturbance: A replication with adolescent girls. Body Image, 3, 17–23.
59.
SlevecJ. H.TiggemannM. (2010). Attitudes toward cosmetic surgery in middle-aged women: Body image, aging anxiety, and the media. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 34, 65–74.
60.
SticeE. (2002). Risk and maintenance factors for eating pathology: A meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, 128, 825–848.
61.
SticeE.Schupak-NeubergE.ShawH. E.SteinR. I. (1994). Relation of media exposure to eating disorder symptomatology: An examination of mediating mechanisms. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 103, 836–840.
62.
SwamiV.ColesR.WilsonE.SalemN.WyrozumskaK.FurnhamA. (2010). Oppressive beliefs at play: Associations among beauty ideals and practices and individual differences in sexism, objectification of others, and media exposure. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 34, 365–379.
63.
ThompsonJ. K.HeinbergL. J.AltabeM.Tantleff-DunnS. (1999). Exacting beauty: Theory, assessment, and treatment of body image disturbance. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
64.
ThompsonJ. K.HeinbergL. J.TantleffS. (1991). The Physical Appearance Comparisons Scale (PACS). The Behavior Therapist, 14, 137.
65.
ThompsonJ. K.SticeE. (2001). Thin-ideal internalization: Mounting evidence for a new risk factor for body-image disturbance and eating pathology. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 10, 181–183.
66.
ThompsonS. C.ThomasC.RickabaughC. A.TantamjarikP.OtsukiT.PanD.SinarE. (1998). Primary and secondary control over age-related changes in physical appearance. Journal of Personality, 66, 583–605.
67.
ThompsonJ. K.van den BergP.RoehrigM.GuardaA. S.HeinbergL. J. (2004). The Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Scale-3 (SATAQ-3): Development and validation. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 35, 293–304.
68.
TiggemannM. (2005). Television and adolescent body image: The role of program content and viewing motivation. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 24, 361–381.
69.
TiggemannM.LynchJ. (2001). Body image across the lifespan. Developmental Psychology, 37, 243–253.
70.
TiggemannM.McGillB. (2004). The role of social comparison in the effect of magazine advertisements on women’s mood and body dissatisfaction. Journal of Social & Clinical Psychology, 23, 23–44.
71.
TiggemannM.Polivy (2010). Upward and downward: Social comparison processing of thin idealized media images. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 34, 356–364.
72.
van den BergP.ThompsonK.Obremski-BrandonK.CoovertM. (2002). The tripartite influence model of body image and eating disturbance: A covariance structure modelling investigation testing the mediational role of appearance comparison. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 53, 1007–1020.
73.
VodaA. M.ChristyN. S.MorganJ. M. (1991). Body composition changes in menopausal women. Women and Therapy, 11, 71–96.
74.
WebsterJ.TiggemannM. (2003). The relationship between women’s body satisfaction and self-image across the life span: The role of cognitive control. The Journal of Genetic Psychology, 162, 241–252.
75.
WildesJ. E.EmeryR.SimonsA. D. (2001). The roles of ethnicity and culture in the development of eating disturbance and body dissatisfaction: A meta-analytic review. Clinical Psychology Review, 21, 521–551.
76.
WisemanC. V.SundayS. R.KlapperF.HarrisW. A.HalmiK. A. (2001). Changing patterns of hospitilization in eating disorder patients. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 30, 69–74.
77.
WolszonL. R. (1998). Women’s body image theory and research: A hermeneutic critique. American Behavioral Scientist, 41, 542–557.
