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Nutritional status and the influence of TV consumption on female body size ideals in populations recently exposed to the media.

ABSTRACT: Television consumption influences perceptions of attractive female body size. However, cross-cultural research examining media influence on body ideals is typically confounded by differences in the availability of reliable and diverse foodstuffs. 112 participants were recruited from 3 Nicaraguan villages that differed in television consumption and nutritional status, such that the contribution of both factors could be revealed. Participants completed a female figure preference task, reported their television consumption, and responded to several measures assessing nutritional status. Communities with higher television consumption and/or higher nutritional status preferred thinner female bodies than communities with lower television consumption and/or lower nutritional status. Bayesian mixed models estimated the plausible range of effects for television consumption, nutritional status, and other relevant variables on individual preferences. The model explained all meaningful differences between our low-nutrition villages, and television consumption, after sex, was the most likely of these predictors to contribute to variation in preferences (probability mass >95% when modelling only variables with zero-order associations with preferences, but only 90% when modelling all possible predictors). In contrast, we found no likely link with nutritional status. We thus found evidence that where media access and nutritional status are confounded, media is the more likely predictor of body ideals.

SUBMITTER: Jucker JL

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5559456 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Nutritional status and the influence of TV consumption on female body size ideals in populations recently exposed to the media.

Jucker Jean-Luc JL Thornborrow Tracey T Beierholm Ulrik U Burt D Michael DM Barton Robert A RA Evans Elizabeth H EH Jamieson Mark A MA Tovée Martin J MJ Boothroyd Lynda G LG

Scientific reports 20170816 1

Television consumption influences perceptions of attractive female body size. However, cross-cultural research examining media influence on body ideals is typically confounded by differences in the availability of reliable and diverse foodstuffs. 112 participants were recruited from 3 Nicaraguan villages that differed in television consumption and nutritional status, such that the contribution of both factors could be revealed. Participants completed a female figure preference task, reported the ...[more]

PMID: 28814743

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Project description:ObjectiveObesity is highly prevalent among ethnic minorities and acceptance of larger body sizes may put these ethnic minorities at risk of obesity. This study aimed to examine body size ideals and body satisfaction in relation to body weight, in two Sub-Saharan African (SSA)-origin groups in the Netherlands compared to the Dutch. Additionally, in the two SSA-origin groups, this study assessed the mediating role of acculturation in the relation between ethnicity and body size ideals and body satisfaction.MethodsDutch, African Surinamese and Ghanaians living in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, participated in the observational HELIUS study (n = 10,854). Body size ideals were assessed using a validated nine figure scale. Body satisfaction was calculated as the concordance of current with ideal figure. Acculturation was only assessed among SSA-origin participants and acculturation proxies included age of migration, residence duration, ethnic identity and social network. Weight and height were measured using standardised protocols.ResultsSSA-origin women and Ghanaian men had larger body size ideals compared to the Dutch; e.g. Surinamese and Ghanaian women had 0.37 (95%CI 0.32; 0.43) and 0.70 (95%CI 0.63; 0.78) larger body size ideals compared to Dutch women. SSA-origin participants were more often satisfied with their weight compared to the Dutch. Similarly, SSA-origin participants had more than twice the odds of being satisfied/preferring a larger figure compared to the Dutch (e.g. BSurinamese men 2.44, 95%CI 1.99; 2.99). Within the two SSA-origin groups, most acculturation proxies mediated the relation between ethnicity and body size ideals in women. Limited evidence of mediation was found for the outcome body satisfaction.ConclusionPublic health strategies promoting a healthy weight may need to be differentiated according to sex and ethnic differences in body weight perception. Factors other than acculturation may underlie the ethnic differences between African Surinamese and Ghanaians in obesity.

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Nutritional status and the influence of TV consumption on female body size ideals in populations recently exposed to the media.

Publications

Nutritional status and the influence of TV consumption on female body size ideals in populations recently exposed to the media.

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