Sweeping analysis of research reinforces media influence on women’s body image
May 8, 2008 by Madeline Fisherhttp://www.news.wisc.edu/15215
As France's parliament considers a landmark bill that would outlaw media images glamorizing the extremely thin, psychology researchers are reporting some of the most definitive findings yet on how these images affect women.
In the May issue of Psychological Bulletin, University of Wisconsin-Madison postdoctoral researcher Shelly Grabe and psychology professor Janet Hyde describe a sweeping analysis of 77 previous studies involving more than 15,000 subjects. In it, they found that exposure to media depicting ultra-thin actresses and models significantly increased women's concerns about their bodies, including how dissatisfied they felt and their likelihood of engaging in unhealthy eating behaviors, such as excessive dieting.
Although on one level the results seem obvious, Grabe believes many people still resist the idea that a societal influence, like the media, can have a real impact on how women view themselves. When individual experiments have found this relationship in the past, she explains, critics have often dismissed them for focusing on groups of particularly body-conscious women, such as college students, or exposing test subjects to unusually racy photos.
Grabe and Hyde, in contrast, analyzed data from every well-designed study on the topic they could find, thus avoiding much of this criticism.
"We've demonstrated that it doesn't matter what the exposure is, whether it's general TV watching in the evening, or magazines, or ads showing on a computer," says Grabe. "If the image is appearance-focused and sends a clear message about a woman's body as an object, then it's going to affect women."
The effect also appears to be growing. The researchers' analysis reveals that, on average, studies conducted in the 2000s show a larger influence of the media on women's body image than do those from the 1990s, says Grabe.
"This suggests that despite all our efforts to teach women and girls to be savvy about the media and have healthy body practices, the media's effect on how much they internalize the thin ideal is getting stronger," she says.
The results are troubling because recent research has established body dissatisfaction as a major risk factor for low self-esteem, depression, obesity, and eating disorders, such as bulimia. At the same time, women's displeasure with their bodies has become so common that it's now considered normal, says Grabe. She hopes that wider recognition of the media's role will encourage people to see the issue as a societal one, rather than as a problem of individual women as it's viewed now.
"I think we need to consider how we're using media images as a culture to share the values we think are important, and the effect that has on our well-being, " she says.
The approach Grabe and Hyde took in their study, called meta-analysis, offers a way to quantitatively examine an entire body of research at once. In their case, this meant 77 carefully selected studies of the effects of appearance-focused media images on women's body dissatisfaction, investment in their looks, adoption of the thin ideal, and eating behaviors and beliefs. The analysis also included controlled, experimental studies, in which these effects were tested directly, and investigations that correlated body concerns with women's self-reported consumption of media.
In simple terms, the meta-analysis placed test subjects from every study into two groups: those who were exposed to media images portraying women's bodies and the thin ideal, and those who weren't. It then asked whether differences existed between the two and the magnitude of the differences.
In the end, the researchers did find a significant difference, with women who were exposed to media reporting less satisfaction with their bodies. Notably, this difference was also seen across all four measures of body image concerns.
So, what's the answer? The French government may try to control the media, but don't women also need to learn to be a little less concerned with their looks?
Grabe replies that the issue lies not with our attraction to images of beauty or with women's desire to emulate them, but with what we've come to define as beautiful: bodies that are unnaturally and unhealthily thin.
"I want to stress that it's totally normal for women to want to be attractive," says Grabe. "But what's happening in our society is that many women are striving toward something that's not very realistic or obtainable, and that leads to a lot of health consequences."
The study's other author is L. Monique Ward of University of Michigan. The work was funded by a grant from the National Institutes of Health to Grabe.
最终，研究人员确实发现这两类女性之间存在着重大差异，受到媒体报道的女性对她们自己身材的满意度更低。值得注意的是，这一差异也在所有四种对身材外貌的担忧中有所体现。
那么，如何才能解决问题？法国政府也许会试图控制媒体，然而女性们难道不应该也学会减少对自身外貌的关注吗？
格拉贝回答说问题的关键不在于我们热衷于欣赏美女形象，也不在于广大女性有模仿美女的渴望，而是在于我们将违背自然和健康的削瘦身材定义为美丽。
“我要强调的是女性期望自己变的有魅力是完全正常的。”格拉贝说“但是在当今社会，许多女性的努力方向有点不切实际，这种现象也带来了大量的健康问题。”
该项目的另一位研究员是来自密歇根大学的莫尼克。美国国立卫生研究院为该项目的研究工作提供资金支持。 影响也愈日深远。研究人员分析发现，与20世纪90年代相比，21世纪00年代的研究大体上反映出媒体在妇女的身体形象上有着更大的影响。格拉贝如此说道，
她说，“这表明了尽管我们不懈努力去让妇女们不要相信媒体所说的，身体健康最要紧。但是这些媒体对于妇女要拥有理想的苗条身材的观念影响越来越大了。“
结果很棘手。因为最近的研究发现对自身身体形象的不满意是很大程度上导致了不自信，抑郁，肥胖症，饮食紊乱，譬如易饿病。同时，妇女为自己的身材感到苦恼已成为很普遍的现象，这也被认为是正常的，格拉贝说道，她希望对媒体扮演的角色应该有更深刻的认知，这也会鼓励人们把这一问题看成是社会性的，而不是被所认为的知识每个妇女自身的事情。
本帖最后由 Gina 于 2015-4-27 23:45 编辑
Although on one level the results seem obvious, Grabe believes many people still resist the idea that a societal influence, like the media, can have a real impact on how women view themselves. When individual experiments have found this relationship in the past, she explains, critics have often dismissed them for focusing on groups of particularly body-conscious women, such as college students, or exposing test subjects to unusually racy photos.
Grabe and Hyde, in contrast, analyzed data from every well-designed study on the topic they could find, thus avoiding much of this criticism.
"We've demonstrated that it doesn't matter what the exposure is, whether it's general TV watching in the evening, or magazines, or ads showing on a computer," says Grabe. "If the image is appearance-focused and sends a clear message about a woman's body as an object, then it's going to affect women."
尽管从某种层面上讲，这种结果是显而易见的,格拉贝相信许多人仍然抵制社会影响,比如媒体,可以对女性如何看待自己产生真正的影响这一观点。她解释说，当之前的个人实验发现这种关系时,批评人士往往不予理睬，而是将注意力集中于那些格外讲究身材的女性，比如大学生，或者让受试者拍一些充满挑逗意味的照片。
相比之下,格拉贝和海德,分析那些来源于他们能够找到的每一个精心设计的课题的数据，因而避免了许多诸如此类的批评。
“我们已经证实，不管它是如何曝光的，无论是通过晚间电视节目，还是杂志，抑或是电脑上的广告，”格拉贝说：“只要图像是以外貌为重点的，而且以女性的身体作为对象发送明确的信息，就会对女性产生影响。”
近日，法国议会正在筹划一项具有里程碑意义的法案，该法案将宣布媒体曝光枯瘦的照片并以此来鼓吹对枯瘦身材的追求等行为不合法。与此同时，心理学研究者已经找到了确凿的证据来说明这类照片对女性的影响。
在《心理学公报》的五月期刊中，威斯康辛大学麦迪逊分校的博士后谢莉.葛拉贝与心理学教授珍妮特.海德展示出先前的包括1500多个主题的77项研究的综合分析。研究显示，媒体曝光的枯瘦的女演员或女模特的照片使社会上其她女性愈发关注自己的身材。包括女性对自己的身材感到诸多不满与养成不健康的饮食习惯的可能性，比如过度节食。（1—2段） linda 发表于 2015-4-24 22:18
影响也愈日深远。研究人员分析发现，与20世纪90年代相比，21世纪00年代的研究大体上反映出媒体在妇女的身体 ...
影响也日益深远。研究人员分析表明，与20世纪90年代相比，21世纪初的研究大体上反映出媒体在女性的身体形象上有着更大的影响，格拉贝如是说。
她说，“这表明了尽管我们不断努力去让女性真正了解媒体，注重身体健康，但是这些媒体对于女性要拥有理想的苗条身材的观念影响越来越大了。”
结果很棘手。因为最近的研究发现对自身身体形象的不满意在很大程度上导致了自卑，抑郁症，肥胖症，饮食失调，譬如易饿病。同时，女性为自己的身材感到苦恼已成为很普遍的现象，以至于被认为是正常的，格拉贝说道。她希望对媒体所扮演的角色应该有更深刻的认知，从而来鼓励人们把这一问题看成是社会性的，而不是像现在那样只被当成妇女的个人问题。
As France's parliament considers a landmark bill that would outlaw media images glamorizing the extremely thin, psychology researchers are reporting some of the most definitive findings yet on how these images affect women.
In the May issue of Psychological Bulletin, University of Wisconsin-Madison postdoctoral researcher Shelly Grabe and psychology professor Janet Hyde describe a sweeping analysis of 77 previous studies involving more than 15,000 subjects. In it, they found that exposure to media depicting ultra-thin actresses and models significantly increased women's concerns about their bodies, including how dissatisfied they felt and their likelihood of engaging in unhealthy eating behaviors, such as excessive dieting.
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原文：近日，法国议会正在筹划一项具有里程碑意义的法案，该法案将宣布媒体曝光枯瘦的照片并以此来鼓吹对枯瘦身材的追求等行为不合法。与此同时，心理学研究者已经找到了确凿的证据来说明这类照片对女性的影响。
在《心理学公报》的五月期刊中，威斯康辛大学麦迪逊分校的博士后谢莉.葛拉贝与心理学教授珍妮特.海德展示出先前的包括1500多个主题的77项研究的综合分析。研究显示，媒体曝光的枯瘦的女演员或女模特的照片使社会上其她女性愈发关注自己的身材。包括女性对自己的身材感到诸多不满与养成不健康的饮食习惯的可能性，比如过度节食。
改译：日前，法国议会正在酝酿一项具有里程碑意义的法案。该法案规定：通过新闻媒体发布骨感照片以鼓吹极瘦身材为非法行为。与此同时，心理学研究者也公布了最终研究成果，但他们却并未对骨感图片如何影响女性做出解释。
在《心理学公报》五月刊中，威斯康辛大学麦迪逊分校的博士后谢莉.葛拉贝与心理学教授珍妮特.海德全面分析了已实施的77项研究。这些研究共涉及15,ooo多名调查对象。研究表明：过多接触骨感女明星或女模特的照片将提高女性对自身身材的关注度，包括女性对自身身材的不满以及养成不良饮食习惯的可能性，比如过度节食。
"I think we need to consider how we're using media images as a culture to share the values we think are important, and the effect that has on our well-being, " she says.
The approach Grabe and Hyde took in their study, called meta-analysis, offers a way to quantitatively examine an entire body of research at once. In their case, this meant 77 carefully selected studies of the effects of appearance-focused media images on women's body dissatisfaction, investment in their looks, adoption of the thin ideal, and eating behaviors and beliefs. The analysis also included controlled, experimental studies, in which these effects were tested directly, and investigations that correlated body concerns with women's self-reported consumption of media.
In simple terms, the meta-analysis placed test subjects from every study into two groups: those who were exposed to media images portraying women's bodies and the thin ideal, and those who weren't. It then asked whether differences existed between the two and the magnitude of the differences.
她说：“我觉得我们应当好好想想为何媒体影像业已成为一种潮流文化，用以宣扬我们所认同的价值观；同时也应当想想这又会对我们的所有人的幸福造成怎样的影响。
在此次研究中，格拉贝及海德博士使用了一种被称为“荟萃分析”的研究方法，其能在同一时刻内将研究对象作为一个整体进行定量调查。拿她们的本次研究来说，77个精心挑选的研究便是荟萃分析的对象——它们均聚焦于以女性外貌为重点的影像如何引起女性对自身躯体的不满，以及随后的“外貌投资”，“以瘦为美”观念与新的饮食观念及习惯。她们同时使用了对照实验进行分析，将这些研究中认为能对女性造成的影响直接付诸于测试，又将女性对自身躯体的关注度与其用于浏览媒体所花时间进行对照调查研究。
简单地说，荟萃分析将所有的研究对象分成两组：一组为曾接触过相关媒体影像的人，另一组则与此相反。这样以后再调查两组之间是否存在差异，若有差距，差距又有多大。 Mr.Qi 发表于 2015-4-28 13:54
"I think we need to consider how we're using media images as a culture to share the values we think...
我认为我们应当考虑我们如何让媒体影像变成用以传播我们认为重要的价值观的文化现象，同时也应当思考这对我们的幸福带来的影响。
在此次研究中，格拉贝及海德博士使用了一种被称为“荟萃分析”的研究方法，其能在同一时刻内将研究对象作为一个整体进行定量调查。在此项研究调查中，她们精心挑选出77项研究作为荟萃分析的对象——它们均聚焦于以女性外貌为重点的影像如何引起女性对自身躯体的不满，以及随后的“外貌投资”，“以瘦为美”观念与新的饮食观念及习惯。她们同时使用了对照实验进行分析，将这些研究中认为能对女性造成的影响直接付诸于测试，又将女性对自身躯体的关注度与其用于浏览媒体所花时间进行对照调查研究。
简单地说，荟萃分析将所有的研究对象分为曾接触过相关媒体影像的与没有接触过的两组女性。而后调查两组之间是否存在差异，若有差距，差距又有多大。
Gina 发表于 2015-4-27 00:04
Although on one level the results seem obvious, Grabe believes many people still resist the idea ...
尽管从某种层面上讲，这种结果是显而易见的,格拉贝认为许多人仍然不相信社会,比如媒体,真的会影响女性看待自己的方式。她解释说，之前的个人实验发现过这种关系,但批评人士往往不予理睬，而是将注意力集中于那些格外讲究身材的女性，比如大学生，或者让受试者拍一些充满挑逗意味的照片。
相比之下,格拉贝和海德,分析他们能够找到的每一个精心设计的课题的数据，因而避免了许多诸如此类的批评。
“我们已经证实，不管它是如何曝光的，无论是通过晚间电视节目，还是杂志，抑或是电脑上的广告，”格拉贝说：“只要图像是以外貌为重点的，而且以女性的身体作为对象发送明确的信息，都会对女性产生影响。”
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