How the mass media affects body dissatisfaction in adolescents

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How the mass media affects body dissatisfaction in adolescents
There is much focus on the internalization of unrealistic body image ideals portrayed on television, magazines and social media among other mass media platforms. The media significantly influences adolescents’ body image. The mainstream portrayal of a slender, physically attractive and athletic body image ideal creates a society of young people that are majorly concerned with body image. The portrayal is a concern for girls and boys alike but it is slightly higher for girls.
Adolescence is a transitional period characterized by disorientation and discovery quest towards self-identity formation. It is a period where adolescents form peer groups and attach increased importance to the need to conform to external appearance ideals. The media is not a reliable basis for forming their identity because it distorts facts and provides unrealistic expectations. Adolescents easily conform to ideals portrayed in the media because they accept the portrayals as part of reality. The ideals on physical appearance are largely unattainable, and it results in feelings of dissatisfaction with their bodies among teenagers (George 19).
One study on 15 year olds shows that girls compare themselves with models seen in teen magazines leading to body image dissatisfaction. Further studies indicate that more than one in five teenage girls in the US begin dieting in a bid to emulate the models featured in the fashion magazines (Javellana 96). It is because the number of articles on diet and exercising in teenage magazines has increased. The models are thinner than the average size of the female population, and their weight may fit in the anorexia nervosa category (Luff and Gray 134). Girls constantly compare themselves to the mainstream media ideal images and become increasingly dissatisfied with their bodies.
Teenage boys also bow to media pressure to work out their abdominal muscles and achieve the masculine idea of a "six pack". Print magazines draw men to control their weight through exercise and weight lifting. Studies reveal that the more young men watch music videos, the worse they feel about certain aspects of their bodies. They develop a poor body image and a drive for masculinity that is largely associated with low self-esteem, anxiety and depression. They also develop high susceptibility for abusing steroids that predispose them to health risks. Some include heart disease, lower sperm count, infertility, baldness and destruction of the liver and the kidney (Javellana 98).
Television, radio, advertising, movies, social media, internet, magazines and others provide a sense of what is and is not important. It influences how adolescents think and look at themselves as well as others perceptions about them. Having a negative body image has long term effects on adolescents’ mental and physical health. It influences the onset of anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, shame. It can also results in risky behavior such as anorexia, bulimia and withdrawal from healthy activities such as exercises that require showing off their bodies in public such as swimming (Javellana 100).
In the US, many fam...