Psychological and physiological consequences of exposure to mass media in young women - the role of moderators
Final Report Abstract
The present study showed that beauty-ideals in the media play an important role in body image and mood of young women. Women with different mental disorders as well as healthy women reported lower body satisfaction and mood after viewing thin-ideals in the media. This adverse media effect seemed to be a common phenomenon, regardless if women were healthy or mentally-ill. In the present study, the thin-ideal exposure was quite brief (ten minutes of fashion magazine viewing). It can be speculated, that repeated and continuous thin-ideal exposure in modern media (e.g., social networks, social media), which is often associated with social judgements and comparison processes, will increase the strength of such effects. In the present study, we did not find evidence that viewing thin-ideals results in immediate physiological stress responses among women. We conclude that responses to brief thin-ideal exposure are stronger on the level of body satisfaction and mood than on the physiological level. However, it cannot be ruled out that physiological stress reponses may be observed after a more intense, prolonged, or repeated thin-ideal exposure. Moreover, the present study showed that women with specific characteristics reported stronger adverse media effects on body satisfaction and mood. The stronger the tendency to internalize, be aware, and experience pressure to meet the thin ideal, the stronger were negative effects on body satisfaction and mood in women viewing thin-ideals. Also, the stronger the tendency to ruminate (repeated and prolonged thinking about negative events), the stronger were negative effects on body satisfaction. Finally, the stronger cognitive distortions, the stronger was the decline in mood after viewing thin-ideals. The findings indicate that women with certain characteristics are particularly vulnerable to adverse media effects. Furthermore, we examined the stability of women’s psychological responses to thin-ideal exposure after three months of evidence-based treatment. All response patterns remained stable from pre-measurement to post-measurement among patients. Even though partially or fully remitted patients showed improved body satisfaction, improved mood, and a lower urge to engage in dysfunctional eating behavior compared to non-remitted patients, remitted patients still showed marked declines in body satisfaction and mood after viewing thin-ideals (as did patients who were non-remitted). In addition to the initial research questions, we also examined remission rates as indicators of naturalistic treatment outcomes of routine clinical care among mentally-ill patients in different treatment institutions in Germany and Switzerland. Depending on the specific mental disorder, we found that three months after admission to inpatient or outpatient treatment, 14-50% of patients showed marked improvements (i.e., partial or full remission of the primary clinical diagnosis). Particularly noteworthy, we could show that a low treatment dose (mean: 3.2 treatment sessions) of outpatient treatment was already associated with marked improvements (full or partial remission) among a substantial number of patients with different mental disorders such as BN, depressive disorders, or anxiety disorders (BN: 29.8%, DEP: 40%, ANX: 50%). Most importantly, the remission rates for depression and anxiety disorders in the outpatient setting were comparable with those of the inpatient treatment, but reached with far less treatment sessions.
Publications
- (2019) Entwicklung und Prävention von Essstörungen und Adipositas bei Kindern und Jugendlichen. Zeitschrift für Psychiatrie, Psychologie und Psychotherapie 67 (1) 9–17
Schuck, Kathrin; Schneider, Silvia
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1024/1661-4747/a000367) - (2014). Study design: Moderators of psychological and physiological consequences of exposure to mass media in young women: An experimental crosssectional and longitudinal study. BMC Psychology, 2:37
Munsch, S.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-014-0037-0) - (2015). Cognitive biases in response to visual bodyrelated stimuli in eating disorders: Study protocol for a systematic review and metaanalysis. Systematic Reviews, 4:103
Schuck, K., Munsch, S., & Schneider, S.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1186/s13643-015-0093-4) - (2017). Cognitive distortions associated with imagination of the thin-idea: Validation of the Thought-Shape Fusion Questionnaire (TSF-B). Frontiers in Psychology, 8:2194
Wyssen, A., Debbeler, L.J., Meyer, A.H., Coelho, J.S., Humbel, N., Schuck, K., Lennertz, J., Messerli-Bürgy, N., Biedert, E., Trier, S.N., Isenschmid, B., Milos, G., Whinyates, K., Schneider, S., & Munsch, S.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.02194) - (2018). Body image perceptions and symptoms of disturbed eating behavior among children and adolescents in Germany. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health, 12:10
Schuck, K., Munsch, S., & Schneider, S.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1186/s13034-018-0216-5) - (2018). Self-reported emotion regulation difficulties are associated with mood but not with the biological stress response to thin ideal exposure. Plos One, 13:e0199769
Humbel, N., Messerli-Bürgy, N., Schuck, K., Wyssen, A., Garcia-Burgos, D., Biedert, E., Lennertz, J., Meyer, A.H., Whinyates, K., Isenschmid, B., Milos, G., Trier, S.N., Adolph, D., Cwik, J., Margraf, J., Assion, H.-J., Teismann, T., Überberg, B., Juckel, G., Müller, J., Klauke, B., Schneider, S., & Munsch, S.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0199769) - (2018): Relevance of the Thought-Shape Fusion Trait Questionnaire for healthy women and women presenting symptoms of eating disorders and mixed mental disorders. Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, 25:601
Wyssen, A., Debbeler, L.J., Meyer, A.H., Coelho, J.S., Humbel, N., Schuck, K., Lennertz, J., Messerli-Bürgy, N., Biedert, E., Trier, S.N., Isenschmid, B., Milos, G., Flury, H., Schneider, S., & Munsch, S.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1002/cpp.2186)
