Written and pictorial content

in magazines
and their potential
relationship to eating
disorders
Kornlia Szab & Ferenc Try
Semmelweis University
Institute of Behavioural Sciences
Budapest, Hungary

Alpbach, 2011

Table of contents

Magazines and eating pathology

Magazine contents
Magazine covers and headlines
Summary

Magazines
Time spent reading magazines: 83% of adolescent girls read
fashion magazines for an average of 4.3 hours per week1
More than 98% of females read womens beauty and fashion
magazines at least once a year2
60%: once a month, 38% twice a month or more3
Magazines influence or shape:
personal values about thinness
gender socialization, gender role endorsement
identity development, personality
concerns with physical appearance and eating behaviours
1Levine

& Smolak, 1996; 2Thomsen, Weber & Brown, 2002 (n=502, highschool females); 3Thomsen, Mccoy, Gustafson, & Williams, 2002 (n=536,
college-age women)

Magazine reading and eating

pathology

1Morry

Body (dis)satisfaction1,2,3,4
Internalization1
Drive for thinnes2
Social comparison5,6
Eating disorder symptomatology2,4
Higher among those at risk for ED
(vulnerability)7

& Staska, 2001; 2Harrison & Cantor, 1997; 3Bissell & Zhou (2004); 4Stice, Schupak-Neuberg, Shaw, and Stein (1994); 5Durkin & Paxton,
2002; 6 van den Berg, Thompson, Obremski-Brandon, & Coovert, 2002; 7Stice 2002.

Magazine reading and

weight control methods/techniques
Frequency of healthy, unhealthy, and extreme weightcontrol behaviours1,2
Importance of muscularity/thinness
Methods to obtain these perfect bodies
Dietary restraint behaviour1,diets3,diet pills2
Supplements4: 4,7% boys/ 1,6% girls used for
improving weight and shape
Exercise
Both males and females
1van

den Berg, Neumark-Sztainer, Hannan and Haines, 2007; 2Thomsen, Weber & Brown, 2002; 3Utter et al., 2003; 4Field et al., 2005.

Magazine contents
1. Pictorial
(slim/muscular
models)
2. Written (ED-stories)
3. Advertisements
4. Nutrition/Fitness/
Diet content
5. Covers and headlines

Pictorial magazine content

Cultural representation
of thinness
Slim women/Muscular
men
Change over time
(1960-2011)
Body image is
significantly more
negative after viewing
thin media images1
1Groesz

et al.,2002: Meta analytic review

Written magazine content

Media mostly sensationalizes,
simplifies ED- stories1,2,3
ED stories are most often told
about celebrities1
Clinical complications and
medical treatments are rarely
mentioned1,3
Medical views about causation
and treatment are more salient
in later years2
1OHara

and Clegg-Smith, 2007; 2Shepherd & Seale, 2010; 3Bishop, 2001

Written magazine content

Inch & Merali, 2006: A 5 year long study,
42 popular magazine articles were
coded:
-illness type
-mention of weight loss
-disordered behaviours
-health impacts
Anorexics are more often profiled
Disordered behaviours as achieving
weight loss is more often mentioned
than their physical consequences

Advertisements in magazines
Weight loss advertisements:
Nearly 40% of weight loss ads
make a representation that is
almost certainly false1
10 times more diet ads or articles
in women magazines2
Food advertising increasingly
portrays food as a type of
medicine3
1Federal

Trade Comission report, 2002; 2Silverstein & DiDomenico, 1992; 3Zwier, 2009; 4Evans et al., 1991

Nutrition/Fitness/Diet related
magazine content
Increase in content1
Dieting
Exercise
Combined plans
Focus on body shape, appearance and weight loss
Statements that the product or service would
promote weight loss were found in 47% of nutritionrelated advertisements1

1Guillen

& Barr, 1994

Magazine covers and headlines

Diet and body image related
headlines1
Women should be thin, beautiful
and attractive to men1
Malkin et al., 1999:
78% of female magazine covers
contained messages regarding
bodily appearance
25% of covers contained
conflicting messages regarding
weight loss and dietary habits
Positioning: losing weight may
lead to a better life
1Davalos

et al, 2007

Summary

Media is not necessarily a causal risk factor

Media is interacting with other variables
Media literacy prevention programs are important
More research is needed (longitudinal studies,
motivational factors)
Direct media effects may be small to modest1, but
the combination of direct and indirect effects may be
considerable2
1Groesz

et al., 2002; 2Harrison & Hefner, 2006; Levine et al., 1994;

THE END
kornelia.szabo@net.sote.hu