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Research has shown that exposure to thin-ideal media is related to eating disorder symptomatology, yet little is known about the processes underlying this relationship. Following self-discrepancy theory, it was predicted that body-specific self-discrepancies would mediate the relationship between thin-ideal media exposure and disordered eating. A sample of 366 male and female adolescents participated in two studies. The findings of the first study support the mediation prediction for thin-ideal television and ideal discrepancies. The findings of the second study demonstrate that exposure to a thin-rewarded portrayal activated ideal discrepancies, whereas exposure to a fat-punished portrayal activated ought discrepancies. Activation of both types of discrepancies is associated with an increase in negative affect whose chronic presence is predictive of disordered eating. Discussion focuses on the utility of self-discrepancy theory in synthesizing the growing collection of studies demonstrating individual differences in sensitivity to the adverse effects of exposure to thin-ideal media.
"Abnormally high levels of self-consciousness may lay the groundwork for eating disorders" (Ewell, Smith, Karmel, & Hart, 1996, p. 122).
"For those ... who do bring such a predisposition (schema) to their use of media, exposure to slender models and weight-loss messages is very likely to exacerbate their conflicts and problems. At present the nature of that schema remains a tantalizing mystery" (Levine & Smolak, 1996, p. 253).
What kind of predisposition or schema leads some people to interpret idealized images of thinness in the media as evidence of their own inadequacy? As the above passage by Ewell et al. (1996) suggests, this predisposition or schema likely involves self-consciousness, but are people who develop eating disorders chronically self-conscious to begin with or do they develop eating disorders because agents in their social environments make them chronically self-conscious? This study takes the latter perspective in attempting to explicate the predisposition Levine and Smolak (1996) pondered and its role in the relationship between exposure to thin-ideal media and eating disorder symptomatology. Thin-ideal media exposure activates body-specific self-discrepancies, which increase disordered eating symptoms. To justify this thesis, it is necessary to summarize research showing that the propositions of self-discrepancy theory (Higgins, 1987) are compatible with three key constructs within the media-disorder literature: ideal-body stereotype internalization, affective conseoences, and social comparison processes.
Researchers in the fields of media effects and...