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The Internet and Adolescent Girls’ Weight Satisfaction and Drive for Thinness

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Abstract

The primary aim of the study was to examine the relationship between media exposure and body image in adolescent girls, with a particular focus on the ‘new’ and as yet unstudied medium of the Internet. A sample of 156 Australian female high school students (mean age = 14.9 years) completed questionnaire measures of media consumption and body image. Internet appearance exposure and magazine reading, but not television exposure, were found to be correlated with greater internalization of thin ideals, appearance comparison, weight dissatisfaction, and drive for thinness. Regression analyses indicated that the effects of magazines and Internet exposure were mediated by internalization and appearance comparison. It was concluded that the Internet represents a powerful sociocultural influence on young women’s lives.

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Acknowledgement

This research was partially funding by an Australian Research Council Discovery Project Grant (No: DP0986623) awarded to M. Tiggemann.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Psychology, Flinders University, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide, South Australia, 5001

    Marika Tiggemann & Jessica Miller

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  1. Marika Tiggemann
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  2. Jessica Miller
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Correspondence to Marika Tiggemann.

Appendix

Appendix

Specific magazines, television shows, and Internet websites surveyed

Magazines

Television shows

Internet websites

Cosmopolitan

Gladiators

YouTube

Cleo

Bondi Rescue

Yahoo

Dolly

So You Think You Can Dance

Myspace

Girlfriend

Home and Away

Facebook

Shop til you drop

Underbelly

Cosmopolitan

New Weekly

The Biggest Loser

Photobucket

Famous

Getaway

Dolly

OK!

Grey’s Anatomy

Google

Woman’s Day

How I Met Your Mother

Ebay

TV Hits

Desperate Housewives

NineMSN

Madison

Big Brother

Bebo

New Idea

Friends

 

Who

Video Hits

 

Vogue

Rage

 

In Style

  

New Woman

  

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Tiggemann, M., Miller, J. The Internet and Adolescent Girls’ Weight Satisfaction and Drive for Thinness. Sex Roles 63, 79–90 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-010-9789-z

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