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Media effects on expectancies: exposure to realistic female images as a protective factor.

Author
Abstract
:

Although frequent exposure to very thin female models is likely the norm for American women, exposure to attractive, average-weight models is likely unusual and may therefore be influential. The authors hypothesized that women at risk for eating disorders who are exposed to attractive, average-weight models would endorse fewer expectancies for reinforcement from thinness than would other women. The hypothesis was confirmed: High-risk women exposed to average-weight model images were less likely to endorse thinness/restricting expectancies than those who were exposed to thin models or to control images. Media exposure to realistic female images appears to lessen the relationship between at-risk status and subsequent endorsement of thinness/restricting expectancies and may therefore disrupt the risk process.

Year of Publication
:
2004
Journal
:
Psychology of addictive behaviors : journal of the Society of Psychologists in Addictive Behaviors
Volume
:
18
Issue
:
4
Number of Pages
:
394-7
ISSN Number
:
0893-164X
URL
:
http://content.apa.org/journals/adb/18/4/394
DOI
:
10.1037/0893-164X.18.4.394
Short Title
:
Psychol Addict Behav
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