David Baxter PhD
Late Founder
Seeing realistic female images helps protect women against eating disorders
NewsRx.com - March 03, 2005
According to recent research from the United States, "Although frequent exposure to very thin female models is likely the norm for American women, exposure to attractive, average-weight models is likely unusual and may therefore be influential."
S.M. Fister and colleagues, University of Kentucky, "hypothesized that women at risk for eating disorders who are exposed to attractive, average-weight models would endorse fewer expectancies for reinforcement from thinness than would other women."
Their study results supported this: "High-risk women exposed to average-weight model images were less likely to endorse thinness/restricting expectancies than those who were exposed to thin models or to control images," the psychologists reported.
"Media exposure to realistic female images appears to lessen the relationship between at-risk status and subsequent endorsement of thinness/restricting expectancies and may therefore disrupt the risk process," they stated.
Fister and coauthors published their study in Psychology of Addictive Behaviors (Media effects on expectancies: Exposure to realistic female images as a protective factor. Psychol Addict Behav, 2004;18(4):394-397).
For additional information, contact G.T. Smith, University of Kentucky, Dept. of Psychology, 115 Kastle Hall, Lexington, KY 40506, USA.
Publisher contact information for the journal Psychology of Addictive Behaviors is: Educational Publishing Foundation, 750 First St., NE, Washington, DC 20002-4242, USA.
NewsRx.com - March 03, 2005
According to recent research from the United States, "Although frequent exposure to very thin female models is likely the norm for American women, exposure to attractive, average-weight models is likely unusual and may therefore be influential."
S.M. Fister and colleagues, University of Kentucky, "hypothesized that women at risk for eating disorders who are exposed to attractive, average-weight models would endorse fewer expectancies for reinforcement from thinness than would other women."
Their study results supported this: "High-risk women exposed to average-weight model images were less likely to endorse thinness/restricting expectancies than those who were exposed to thin models or to control images," the psychologists reported.
"Media exposure to realistic female images appears to lessen the relationship between at-risk status and subsequent endorsement of thinness/restricting expectancies and may therefore disrupt the risk process," they stated.
Fister and coauthors published their study in Psychology of Addictive Behaviors (Media effects on expectancies: Exposure to realistic female images as a protective factor. Psychol Addict Behav, 2004;18(4):394-397).
For additional information, contact G.T. Smith, University of Kentucky, Dept. of Psychology, 115 Kastle Hall, Lexington, KY 40506, USA.
Publisher contact information for the journal Psychology of Addictive Behaviors is: Educational Publishing Foundation, 750 First St., NE, Washington, DC 20002-4242, USA.
