THE IMPACT OF MULTI-MEDIA ON EATING DISORDERS by Andrea C. Donajkowski

A Paper Presented in Partial Fulfillment
Of the Requirements of CST5006 – Survey of Research Methodology
Andrea Donsjkowski
August, 2013

Instructor: Veronica Carey

Abstract

Body dissatisfaction has always been around. With the arrival of the television the pursuit for the ideal body type began to have a greater impact on society then it previously had when the only form of media was radio or magazines. Since then the western culture has become overloaded with the ever present images of what society believes should be the ideal body type of both men and women. This has led some researchers to question if the increasing amount of advertisements and media influence that society is being exposed to has an impact on what appears to be an increase in the rise of eating disorders over the past quarter century.
Contents
Abstract ii
Introduction 1
Background of the Ideal body type 1
Theory 3
Research Questions 6
Qualitative study approach 7
Quantitative study approach 8
Key Findings of previous research 9
Conclusion 9
Annotated Bibliography 10

Introduction Body dissatisfaction has always been around, wither it was being too thin, too fat, not tall enough or too tall. With the advent of the television the quest for the ideal body type jumped from the black and white pages of better homes and gardens advertisements to living breathing representations of what was considered to be the perfect bodies. From televisions to movies, to the internet the western culture has become overloaded with the ever present images of what society believes should be the ideal body type of both men and women. This has led some researchers to question if the increasing amount of advertisements and media influence that society is being exposed to has an impact on what appears to be an increase in the rise of eating disorders over the past quarter century.
Background of the Ideal body type
Over the past 20 years there has been a significant change in the way that a women’s place in society have changed which has led to a direct change to what is portrayed to be the ideal body type for both men and women (Derenne & Beresin, 2006). The change for women that has been identified is for the ideal body type to be decreasing in weight, waist, hip and bust line from the previously accepted and sought after shape of voluptuous bust and hip lines with a dainty waist. The ideal body image for women in 1978 was as described above with a voluptuous hip and bust size and a dainty waist, was a seen as a societal symbol of fertility and a woman’s status as the traditional stay at home wife (Impact of Media on Development of eating Disorders in Young Females or Packistan, 2011). These women were considered to be too fragile to work outside of the home, however; their bust and hip lines were signs of being fertile and considered to be the perfect wife to provide children. As society and the world changed wars came and the society acceptable place for women changed from house wife to working in factories and office positions. This lead the ideal body type for women to change to a thinner and a more sleek silhouette where women looked more like men with very little curves so they could fit in with the world. Once the wars were finished society expected that women would once again return to the home, and began to portray women as they previously had with small waists and curves (Kim & Lennon, 2007). This posed a problem that had not been considered, that previously women were able to obtain something close to these images because of the lifestyles they lived and that majority of meals were cooked at home. When the majority of women did not return to the house wife lifestyle the media began to portray women an extremely thin, highly unobtainable figure, an image that most likely only the most wealthy women would be able to obtain. This was done with the hopes that women who were now