Body Image Concerns and Sociocultural Ideals essays

Body Image Concerns and Sociocultural Ideals essays Body image concerns and preoccupation are significantly high in America compared to other industrialized countries. Weight concern in British women, for example, is not excessive and there is little evidence of idealization of dangerously low weights (Wardle s appearance, is extremely prevalent and may be associated with psychological distress (e.g., depression) and functional impairment (Thompson et al., 1999). Degree of body dissatisfaction is often measured as the discrepancy between ones self-perceived real and ideal body size (Showers The slender body type as a beauty standard for women is especially salient in the media, and several researchers have demonstrated how the female body depicted in the media has become increasingly thin (Garner et al., 1980; Wiseman et al., 1992). Recent research has explored the internalization of the thin ideal, transmitted through popular media and strengthened through social reinforcement, as a potential risk factor for the development of eating disorders and body image concerns (Cusumano Heinberg et al., 1995; Thompson buys into socially defined ideals of attractiveness and emerges in behaviors designed to produce an approximation of these ideals (Thompson et al., 1999). Spec...