Women Misjudge Celebrities' Body Size

Posting Date: 05/17/2000

The media often portrays an unrealistic view of the "ideal" female body that can cause women to be dissatisfied about the way they look. The thin model image can also be linked to an increasing prevalence in eating disorders among young women and girls.

However, it has never been determined why some women are affected by this media exposure of body shape while others are not.

Past research has shown that women who are dissatisfied with their bodies or have eating disorders tend to overestimate their body size after viewing thin models.

Now, a recent study by Australian researchers looked at 96 undergraduate psychology students from the University of Sydney in an attempt to find out who is most affected by media portrayals of body size.

Participants were divided into two groups, one with women who had a low concern about their body shape and a second with women who had a high concern. Both groups were then shown both accurate and distorted pictures of thin and heavy female celebrities and asked to choose which photos portrayed the true body shapes of the famous personalities.

In almost all cases, the group with high concern about body shape judged the thin celebrities to be thinner than they actually are. The low body shape concern group judged the celebrities more accurately, according to a report in Nutrition Research Newsletter.

One interesting result is that both groups judged the heavier celebrities to be heavier than they actually are, which researchers say reinforces the negative connotations associated with being overweight in today?s society.

What this study shows is that if we learn to love our bodies and remember that the media exaggerates the ideal figure, we?ll be much happier and healthier.

Source: Nutrition Research Newsletter, May 2000

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