Media Exposure of the Ideal Physique on Women’s Body Dissatisfaction and Mood: The Moderating Effects of Ethnicity

Although body image concerns are influenced by cultural and ethnic factors, most research on the media and body image has focused exclusively on Caucasians. The goal of this study was to examine whether ethnicity moderates the body dissatisfaction and mood of women exposed to media images portraying the ideal physique. Two ethnic groups of women (Caucasians and African Americans) viewed two sets of slides (mass media ideals and controls) and completed pre- and posttest mood state measures of anxiety, depression, anger, and body dissatisfaction. Findings reveal that although the African American women reported no changes from pre- to posttest body dissatisfaction after viewing either slide condition, the Caucasian women reported higher body dissatisfaction after viewing the model slides and lower body dissatisfaction scores after viewing the control slides. No other results were significant. Study results and future research directions are discussed.