Ultra-thin magazine models found to have little negative effect on adolescent girls

Contradicting previous laboratory studies, a new study suggests that long-term exposure to ultra-thin magazine models doesn't lead to excessive dieting and body dissatisfaction in adolescent girls unless they already have concerns about their body image. The study was presented in August at APA's 1999 Annual Convention in Boston.

Only adolescents who initially expressed body dissatisfaction experienced significant increases in dieting, depression and bulimic symptoms, says study author, Eric Stice, PhD, a professor of psychology at the University of Texas at Austin.

Conversely, 60 percent of the adolescents didn't appear to be affected.

"The discrepancy between our study and previous research is largely because we measured the effects in a natural environment," says Stice. Most laboratory studies assess short-term exposure to these images.

Stice and his colleagues randomly assigned 219 girls, ages 13 to 17, to a group that received a 15-month subscription to Seventeen magazine and, a control group that received no magazine. They followed the teen-agers for 20 months.

The girls who experienced negative effects from the magazines initially reported they felt pressure to be thin or lacked social support from their family and friends.

Stice speculates that girls who have supportive families and friends may not be as influenced by the media.

"Parents, peers and dating partners may play a somewhat more important role than the mass media because feedback from these sources about body size is more personal," Stice says.

He cautions that previous studies shouldn't be discounted because 41 percent of adolescent females report that magazines are their most important source of information on dieting and health, and 61 percent of teen-age girls read at least one fashion magazine regularly.

Teens with poor body image might be more likely to read fashion magazines because they seek out thin-ideal media messages to learn more about effective weight-control techniques, Stice said.

Stice conducted the study with Diane Spangler, PhD, a professor of psychology at Brigham Young University, and W. Steward Agras, MD, a professor of psychiatry at the Stanford University School of Medicine.

--L. Rabasca

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