Content area
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to (1) examine the relationship between media internalization and body dissatisfaction in Asian American women, and (2) examine whether critical consciousness is a moderator of this relationship. Because there are no existing measures of critical consciousness of sociocultural and media beauty messages, a prerequisite to this study was the development of the Critical Consciousness of Sociocultural Influences Scale (CCSIS). I developed an initial measure and conducted a two-phase pilot study consisting of focus groups of Asian American women, and used the results of the focus groups to modify the measure. Participants in the main study included 126 Asian American female college students. Hypotheses for the study were, (1) media internalization will significantly predict levels of body dissatisfaction after controlling for acculturation and body mass index, and (2) critical consciousness will moderate the relationship between media internalization and body dissatisfaction after controlling for acculturation and body mass index. Hypotheses 1 and 2 were tested using hierarchical regression analyses.
The first hypothesis was supported by the results of this study. Results indicated that media internalization accounted for a significant amount of variance in body dissatisfaction after accounting for acculturation and body mass index. That is, women with higher media internalization had higher body dissatisfaction regardless of their level of acculturation or body mass. Hypothesis 2 was not supported by the data. Critical consciousness did not moderate the relationship between media internalization and body dissatisfaction. However, critical consciousness significantly predicted body dissatisfaction over and above effects of media internalization, indicating that critical consciousness contributes to variance in body dissatisfaction in the sample of Asian American women. Results are discussed in the context of macrosystemic influences on body dissatisfaction in Asian American women, critical consciousness literature, and eating disorder prevention research. Recommendations for future research include continued efforts to refine and validate the measure of critical consciousness, and identify other potential moderators of the relationship between media internalization and body dissatisfaction.
