Media Effects on Eating Disorder Symptoms: Meta-analysis

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This application is in response to PA: NIMH Small Grants Program (PA-03-039). Because of the increased prevalence of eating disorders and their chronic nature, theoretically examining their precipitating and perpetuating mechanisms are essential for establishing effective prevention and treatment programs. The most empirically supported theory for the acquisition and maintenance of eating disorders is the socio-cultural model, which identifies the mass media's portrayal of the culturally-ideal physique of a thin and lean physique for women and a lean and muscular physique for men as the impetus behind increases in eating disorder symptoms (e.g., increased body dissatisfaction, anger, anxiety, depression). The most significant source of data examining the media effects on eating disorder symptoms are laboratory experimental studies that expose participants to images of the ideal physique to determine their immediate impact on eating disorder symptoms. Because these studies have contradictory results and methods, a meta-analytic synthesis of this literature and its moderating mechanisms is required before the effects of the mass media's portrayal of the ideal physique on eating disorder symptoms are determined. The objective of this study will be to meta-analytically review the laboratory research examining the acute exposure to the media's portrayal of the ideal physique on eating disorder symptoms and the mechanisms that moderate this effect. This objective will aid in understanding the Surgeon General's Report on Mental Health conclusion that mental illness and related health problems must be understood in a social and cultural context, and it will provide important information for further research in this area and for developing effective media-literacy interventions.