Adolescent Girls and the Media
Adolescence marks a time of rapid and intense emotional and physical changes, especially for females. There is an increased value placed on peer acceptance and approval, and a heightened attention to external influences and social messages about cultural norms. Body image and related self-concepts emerge as significant factors associated with health and well-being during this developmental phase, as youths begin to focus more on their physical appearance. How adolescents formulate and define their body image ideals and subsequent self-comparisons is strongly influenced by personal, familial, and cultural factors. However, crucial to the formation of teenage girls’ body image ideals are the media. Media constantly send young girls messages which influence their idea of how an ideal woman should look like, and leave many of them dissatisfied with their own bodies. This causes them to become obsessed with an unrealistic, unhealthy and unachievable body image, which may lead to psychological, emotional and physical problems. Particularly today, when teenage girls have access to more information from the media than ever before, it is important to ask, how can concerned adults help girls to achieve a positive body image, when they are constantly bombarded with unattainable beauty ideals? Adults play a crucial role in helping adolescent girls to filter the media messages, and to form healthy body ideals.
A healthy and positive self-image is extremely important in order for an adolescent to develop as a strong minded, independent, flourishing young adult. As Gibbs & Grey (2011), self-image and self-worth are predecessors in the creation of self-esteem. High self-esteem is associated with sociability and self-confidence. On the contrary, low self-esteem is associated with lack of confidence and low feelings of self-worth. A negative self-image can therefore lead to important negative consequences for the development of an individual. This negative self-image develops because of a negative body image. As Grant & Potenza (2010) explained, “body image is a multidimensional construct comprised of self-perceptions and attitudes regarding one’s physical appearance” (p. 127). This attitude is determined by body satisfaction and the importance of appearance. Body satisfaction depends of one’s perceived body image rather than his or her actual body shape or size (Grant & Potenza 2010). This is because there is a difference between the way in which adolescents perceive their body image, and the actual body size and shape. Body image is also highly influential in one’s development. A positive body image has been associated with higher life quality, self-esteem and optimism (Grant & Potenza 2010).
There is a lose connection between self-image and the media. As Gibbs and Grey (2011) further show, adolescents’ self-image is constructed by comparing themselves with others. Thus, “the image of ourselves that we see in the mirror is often in contrast to the magazines and television images of movie stars and models” (Gibbs & Grey 2011, p.315). Influenced by the images in the media, individuals may forget that the media do not offer trustworthy body images, and that these images are often modified, or that very skinny models are often used. Literature showed that magazine reading is a predictor of negative body image and eating disturbances in women and that female adolescents are more vulnerable to body image disturbances than adolescent males (Botta 2003). Consequently, individuals who are already experiencing low-self-esteem may be further discouraged by these images. Moreover, adolescent girls may feel the need to adopt very strict and dangerous diets in order to reach the beauty ideal presented by the media, regardless of how unrealistic it is.
Because self-esteem begins in the family, cultivating healthy beauty ideals since an early age, and providing children with strong self-esteem may help parents to avert the influence of the media later. Felson & Zielinsky (1989) found that supportive parental behaviour increases self-esteem in children. Higher self-esteem in children leads to closer relationships with their parents and other significant people, and to higher perceived support in adolescence (Felson & Zelinsky 1989). As Gibbs & Grey (2011) explained, “self-esteem begins with the family. Children are generally born into homes with happy and loving parents regardless of parents circumstances or of environment” (p.316). Having supportive parents, whom as a child, support the little girl and reassure her of her beauty and self-worth, may mitigate the later effects of media and help adolescent girls to maintain high self-esteem regardless of the media portrayals of beauty ideals.
Furthermore, experts suggest that parents’ energy is best spent by helping their daughters to look at and think critically about the unrealistic way the media portrays girls and women. This is most likely to occur if mom or dad is engaged in the process, too. This means that parents must prepare their children and teenagers for the effects of the media, by explaining to them the difference between the messages sent by the media and reality. As Media Smarts (n.d.) showed, underweight women are overrepresented on television sitcoms. Furthermore, “when women of above average weight do appear, they tend to draw negative comments from other characters about their looks. These comments are almost always followed by “canned” laughter, indicating that the audience is expected to agree that these characters are appropriate butts of humour” (Media Smarts, n.d., n.p). This shows that television deliberately influences the society’s attitude towards certain body types. Unprepared by their parents to judge these materials critically, adolescent girls can be deeply affected by these messages, and may lose self-esteem.
For adolescent girls, parental co-viewing may be a solution, because this allows parents and their daughters to talk about the patterns of body representation in the media , and to help adolescent girls to discuss any frustrations or dissatisfactions that they may feel, in direct relation with media representations. Co-viewing has been associated with positive effects in regards to children and adolescents (Potter 2014). As Potter (2014) showed, co-viewing is associated with higher educational content and less negative effect for media materials including violence or other disturbing messages. Furthermore, co-viewing is also effective in regards to the internet, and can increase the teenagers’ feelings of satisfaction in regards to the relationship with their parents, and overall media experience. Potter (2014) showed that, “children who co-view with their parents say they enjoy the programs more” (p.436). This is because co-viewing allows parents to prevent the teenagers from being strongly influenced by the body images presented in the media, and they can explain to them how those images are unrealistic.
Therefore, as shown above, parents have an important role in preventing teenager girls from being influenced by the unrealistic body image ideals presented in the media. They can help teenage girls to form positive images of themselves since early in their childhood. Enhancing their self-esteem in childhood may help to prevent girls from being affected by the unrealistic media images. Furthermore, parental support and co-viewing during adolescence may help teenagers to understand that the models imposed by the media are unrealistic and should not represent their goal. While fighting against the society’s impositions in terms of beauty ideals, which are reinforced and even imposed by the media, is extremely difficult, continuous support and dialogue with the parents since childhood, and throughout adolescence may help girls to develop a healthy attitude towards beauty ideals, and to only reach for attainable and reasonable goals in their physical self-improvement practices.
References
Body image-film and TV (n.d.). Media Smarts- Canada’s Centre for Digital and Media Literacy. Retrieved from: http://mediasmarts.ca/body-image/body-image-film-and-tv
Botta, R. (2003). For your health? The relationship between magazine reading and adolescents’ body image and eating disturbances. Sex Roles 48(9/10): 389-399.
Felson, R. & Zielinsky, M. (1989) Children’s self-esteem and parental support. Journal of Marriage and Family 51 (3): 727-735.
Gibbs, E. & Grey, P. (2011). Five foundations of human development: a proposal for our survival in the twenty-first century and the new millennium. Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse.
Grant, J. & Potenza, M., (2010).Young adult mental health. New York: Oxford University Press.
Potter, W. (2014). Media literacy. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
