Gourley-Paper2

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Feb 20, 2024

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Literature Review Nicole Gourley Pennsylvania State University 301W: Psychology Professor Pamela Dubyak October 22, 2023
Literature Review Nicole Gourley Eating disorders have always existed, even prior to smartphones, laptops, and televisions. However, the rise of technology allows individuals to broadcast romanticized versions of their lives, highly edited photographs of themselves, and unrealistic lifestyle preferences. My research hypothesis is that media in itself has an effect on eating disorders, causing unattainable expectations for consumers, causing distress and extreme changes in their eating patterns because of this. One article I discovered is from the National Eating Disorder Association, speaking on media consumption and dissatisfaction with people’s bodies. The hypothesis is that as the amount of consumption of media in individuals increases, dissatisfaction with body and excessive focus on needing to change appearance increases. This is important because it acknowledges the severity in media consumption and constantly consuming material that isn’t benefitting individuals. The independent variable in this case would be media consumption, and the dependent variable would be body dissatisfaction. A second article I discovered is from PubMed Central, overall confirming my hypothesis and stating that media consumption- primarily focused on magazines, television, and movies. This was especially focused on young girls and boys, rather than adults. This is importance and concerning because exposure to this content at such a young age can be very detrimental to not only mental health, but physical health being affected by disordered eating patterns and desires to change due to comparison. The independent variables in this article are beauty magazine
exposure, television, and movie consumption. The dependent variable is disordered eating patterns, dissatisfaction with body image, and eating disorders in young adults and children. I found my third article particularly interesting. It speaks on how social media can contain a lot of pro-eating disorder content, encouraging the detrimental behaviors of individuals. Algorithm can lead individuals to consume this media more and more, because media knows what you watch more, and will place that content in front of you. This can lead individuals into a downward spiral, chasing an image of a desirable body that is literally unattainable. It was also mentioned that individuals with prior body image and disordered eating patterns are more likely to fall victim to unhealthy social media consumption, thus leading to relapse, body image issues, self-dissatisfaction, disordered eating patterns, and serious eating disorders. The independent variables in this were social media consumption and history if self-image/body-image issues/disordered eating patterns. The dependent variable is eating disorders. For each of these studies, a lot of the experimental analysis is done by self-reports. Experimental participants are individuals that consume media and/or have body image issues. This is a concern for the studies, as mentioned, because self-report is not always a reliable source for analysis. However, diagnoses of eating disorders are not self-reported, and dissatisfaction with the body and disordered eating patterns can be self-reported. The amount of screen time on an individual is surely attainable and cannot be altered prior to experimentation, so this is easily measured. The control group wouldn’t consume mass amounts of media, or any at all, and the experimental group would consume beauty magazines, watch movies, consume disordered eating social media content, etc. Consistently throughout the studies, there is a concern for disordered eating, body dissatisfaction, and eating disorders when looking at media use and eating disorders. There is no
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doubt that the media can influence people’s body image and self-esteem, when viewing individual’s life highlight reels in front of you and comparing it to a life that isn’t only made of highlight reels. Social media and other media are romanticizations of individuals’ lives, which can cause dissatisfaction within the consumers. These articles helped me feel confident in my hypothesis because it is clear to me that there is a great concern for the effect of media on disordered eating, primarily in young people which is concerning. Article one specially made me confident because it was on the National Eating Disorder website, giving insight and raising awareness for the concern of this cause-and-effect situation. It also gave tips to prevent this, which I found super helpful and am appreciative for. Article two gave me insight to the effect that this has on younger individuals, giving me a less broad sample to explore within this experiment. I appreciated the cognizance of this article and how it helped give me faith in my hypothesis and carrying out this research. The third article did make me a bit skeptical, mentioning how there are other factors rather than primarily focusing on just media utilization, however it did mention and heighten the concern that is consistent among these articles. I plan to carry out my research hypothesis because of the confidence and insight I have consistently gathered from these three articles. They have acknowledged the concern and causation of disordered eating from media use. I am still pondering my independent variables, however I would be confident by analyzing amount of time spent on social media/which social media is being used, and prior reports of self/body dissatisfaction and disordered eating patterns rising back up due to the media being broadcasted in front of them. My dependent variable will remain eating disorders and disordered eating patterns, alongside negative self-talk, low self- esteem, and bad body image.
References Isabella Cueto, T. G. (2023, March 22). Social Media is part of a “self-perpetuating cycle of risk” for eating disorders and negative body image, per study . STAT. https://www.statnews.com/2023/03/22/social-media-eating-disorders-negative-body- image/ Media & Eating Disorders . National Eating Disorders Association. (2022, March 2). https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/media-eating-disorders? gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwkNOpBhBEEiwAb3Mvvc_EAkZcgFyatY1xj0Fl- wShI3s4od1j_VHZPWfzOf6CT1x1eekgThoCWDoQAvD_BwE Morris, A. M., & Katzman, D. K. (2003, May). The impact of the media on eating disorders in children and adolescents . Paediatrics & child health. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2792687/