Caucasian women grow increasingly dissatisfied with their bodies as they are exposed to images in advertising, according to researchers at the University of Missouri - Columbia. Dissatisfaction with body image has been linked to the development of eating disorders.

"Within current mass media messages, the distinction between reality and a fictionalized ideal are often unclear," said Laurie Mintz, associate professor of educational and counseling psychology. "Unlike art, literature and music, which are usually within the context of something unattainable, the images that individuals are constantly exposed to through the mass media are perceived as realistic and thus, seem to set cultural standards."

Researchers used a specialized scale to categorize and measure how women saw their bodies. The scale was based on body surveillance (seeing oneself as an object), body shame (feeling shame when the body does not conform to cultural standards) and control beliefs (assumption that women are responsible for their appearances and that control of their appearances and compliance with cultural standards is possible with enough effort).

Investigators analyzed how the scale predicted psychological changes among 93 Caucasian women, ages 18 to 31, after viewing images of stereotypically thin and attractive women from magazines.

The women were divided into two groups. The first group looked at ads that included images of people while the other group looked at ads that had no people in them. Advertisements were in magazines and included ads for underwear, jewelry, lotion, gum and liquor. The ads were viewed for one to three minutes each. The ads with people included Caucasian women who exemplified the ideals of thinness and attractiveness. The researchers tested whether depression, self-esteem and body dissatisfaction changed after exposure to different kinds of advertisements.

After only one to three minutes of viewing the images containing people, the women experienced a drop in body esteem.

Researchers concluded that cumulative viewing of such images could result in women becoming extremely dissatisfied with their bodies and possibly developing eating disorders in an attempt to achieve the thin ideal.

Other sources: University of Missouri - Columbia