Exposure to Media-Portrayed Thin-Ideal Images Adversely Affects Vulnerable Girls: A Longitudinal Experiment

Although laboratory experiments indicate that brief exposure to thin models leads to acute body dissatisfaction and negative affect in women, research has not tested whether longer term exposure results in lasting effects. Accordingly, we randomly assigned 219 adolescent girls to a 15-month fashion magazine subscription or a no-subscription condition and followed them over time. Despite evidence that the experimental manipulation successfully increased exposure to the fashion magazine and the ample statistical power, there were no main effects of long-term exposure to thin images on thin-ideal internalization, body dissatisfaction, dieting, negative affect, or bulimic symptoms. However, there was evidence that vulnerable adolescents, characterized by initial elevations in perceived pressure to be thin and body dissatisfaction and deficits in social support, were adversely affected by exposure to these images. Results suggest that exposure to thin-ideal images has lasting negative effects for vulnerable youth.