Media's focus on ideal body shape can boost women's body satisfaction, for a while
Monday, April 11, 2011 - 12:30
in Health & Medicine
When researchers had college-age women view magazines for five straight days that only included images of women with thin, idealized body types, something surprising happened: the readers' own body satisfaction improved. But the boost in body image came with a catch. Those women whose body satisfaction improved the most also were more likely to report that they engaged in dieting behaviors such as skipping meals or cutting carbohydrates during the course of the study.