The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between several aspects of television viewing, in particular total exposure, selective viewing of specific genres, and motives for viewing, with body attitudes among adolescents. Participants were 1,452 secondary school students who completed questionnaire measures of eating disorder attitudes and symptomatology, internalization of appearance ideals, appearance schemas, and uses of television. Participants also provided a detailed account of their television watching in the previous week, from which measures of total exposure and viewing of specific genres were generated. It was found that total television time was not related to any body image variable for either boys or girls. However, the time spent watching soap operas was related to drive for thinness in both genders. This relationship was mediated by internalization and appearance schemas. The time spent watching soap operas and music videos was also related to drive for muscularity in boys. Three major components of television usage were identified: entertainment, social learning, and escape from negative affect. The latter two uses had substantial correlations with negative outcomes for both genders. The similar pattern of correlations observed for boys and girls suggests that similar processes are operating in the two genders. It was concluded that television watching does have an impact on young people's sense of body image but that the critical aspects are the type of material and motivations for watching, not the total amount of television watched.
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Marika Tiggemann (2005) studied this question.
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