Media Education Offers Help on Children's Body Image Problems

ARTICLE REPRINT • From the May 1999 AAP News, the official news magazine of the American Academy of Pediatrics

A new study in the March issue of Pediatrics reinforces what we already fear: young girls are suffering from negative body image and are engaging in unhealthy behaviors as a result.

In the study, Exposure to the Mass Media and Weight Concerns Among Girls, the authors use a cross-sectional survey of 548 girls in 5th grade through 12th grade to assess influence of the media on weight concerns, weight control behaviors and perceptions of body weight and shape.

A majority of girls (59 percent) reported dissatisfaction with their body shape, and 66 percent expressed the desire to lose weight; the prevalence of overweight in this study was 29 percent.

Girls were asked about their frequency of reading women's fashion magazines. Some 69 percent reported that appearance of models in the magazines influenced their image of a perfect female body, and 47 percent desired to lose weight because of the magazine pictures.

Frequent readers of women's fashion magazines (2 times a week to 7 times a week) were more likely to have dieted or exercised to lose weight because of a magazine article.

The article presents a concise review of these devastating health problems and rightfully suggests that "the print media aimed at young girls could serve a public health role by refraining from relying on models who are severely underweight and printing more articles on the benefits of physical activity."

As fervently as we might hope for the media to "do the right thing" and deliver socially conscious and health-conscious images and messages to our youth, media education offers a simpler and more effective response. Inclusion of media education as a powerful tool for countering the negative, unattainable, unhealthy images in fashion magazines would have given this valuable article even more relevance.

The goal of media education is to understand the meaning and intent behind the media images and messages we see and hear all around us, every day, everywhere.

From fashion magazines to television, the Internet to billboards, video games to film, and music lyrics to the novel on the best-seller list, we live in a media world and can only appreciate the good in media—and comprehend and ferret out the harmful—if we are media-educated.

With this in mind, the Academy over the past many months has embarked on an ambitious, exciting campaign for national media education: Media Matters. Its goal is media-educated families, including parents, children and adolescents, who limit the amount of media used and proactively, purposefully choose positive or educational offerings when a program or activity is desired.

A physician's guide to media education, media history form and other resources are currently available. In addition, the Academy is developing a new policy statement and guide for parents that will suggest ways families can promote media education in the home, including:

• recommending no television in a child's bedroom,
• prohibiting media use during meals,
• encouraging parents to be positive media role models, and
• encouraging children to pursue a variety of other activities during leisure time, especially reading.

Critical thinking and critical viewing habits are integral components of media education. Adults can use bothersome media portrayals for conversation and discussion. "Do you think the Wily Coyote would really jump up after being hit in the head with a boulder?" "Why does a beer company use little frogs to encourage people to buy and drink beer?" "Does this fashion model look healthy? Energetic? Why would a company use a model like this to sell clothing?"

Media-educated children and youth should understand that behind all media products are potent political, social and economic forces. Children feel very powerful when they understand that all media products are constructed—carefully created for a purpose—to sell, to persuade, to manipulate, to create a feeling.

Pediatricians continue to be concerned about the public health risks posed by mass media images and messages for children and adolescents. Scores of studies teach us about the impact of viewing violence in the media; the outcomes range from increased aggressive behavior, to desensitization to violence, to fear about living in a "mean, scary world."

We also know, through experience and research, that the media may teach and model unhealthy sexual behaviors and normalize and glamorize use of tobacco, alcohol and illicit drugs. Heavy viewers and users of media tend to have problems in school and sheer time spent with media limits the valuable time a child spends in active play, creative pursuits, socializing with family and friends, and reading.

Rather than depending on the media industry to self-correct, pediatricians and parents must embrace media education as the best and simplest solution to the public health risks presented by the media. More information and ideas on implementing media education activities in homes, offices, clinics, schools and communities are available from the AAP Division of Public Education. For details, contact Jennifer Stone at (800) 433-9016, ext. 7870, or e-mail jstone@aap.org.

Dr. Hogan chairs the AAP Committee on Public Education.

Reprinted with permission. American Academy of Pediatrics, AAP News, May 1999 .