Baty, L.
Positive Body Images in Media

The goal of this study is to determine if using television to provide children positive images of women and girls to build self-esteem is possible.  Focus groups were conducted with 43 females from four age groups: 7- through 10-year-olds, 11- through 13-year-olds, 14- through 17-year-olds, and 18- through 24-year-olds.  The correlation between television and body ideal scores indicate that the more days participants watched television, the lower their body ideal score (r = -.33, p = .05), and the more they believed television, the lower their body ideal scores (r = -.37, p = .05).  Image reaction data reveal characters in television programming must be similar to the audience for the positive message to be internalized.  Positive images in media programming would be beneficial and future research should investigate the protective effects.