Skepticism of and critical thinking about media messages: Conflicting relationships with body dissatisfaction.

Autor: Bennett BL; Department of Psychology, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, USA; Department of Psychology, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI 96822-2294, USA. Electronic address: blbenne@clemson.edu., Martin-Wagar CA; Department of Psychology, University of Montana, Missoula, 59812, USA. Electronic address: caitlin.martin-wagar@mso.umt.edu., Boswell RG; Princeton Center for Eating Disorders, Penn Medicine, Plainsboro, NJ 08536, USA. Electronic address: rebecca.boswell@pennmedicine.upenn.edu., Forrest LN; Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, PA 17033, USA. Electronic address: lauren.forrest@psu.edu., Perelman H; Hayley Perelman Private Practice, Summit, NJ 07901, USA., Latner JD; Department of Psychology, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI 96822-2294, USA. Electronic address: jlatner@hawaii.edu.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Eating behaviors [Eat Behav] 2023 Dec; Vol. 51, pp. 101820. Date of Electronic Publication: 2023 Sep 22.
DOI: 10.1016/j.eatbeh.2023.101820
Abstrakt: Despite the theoretical connection between media literacy and body dissatisfaction, empirical findings about their relationship are decidedly mixed. There is not a clear explanation for these discrepancies. The present study aimed to 1) compare the attitudes young adult women with those of a reference group of adolescents to examine whether similar values were observed despite differences in age group and racial/ethnic identity, 2) to examine the relationships between media literacy and body dissatisfaction using recommended measures of media literacy. Racially diverse female undergraduate students (N = 152, M age  = 21.62) completed the Media Attitudes Questionnaire, the Critical Thinking about Media Measure, and the Body Shape Questionnaire online. Young adult women endorsed greater critical thinking about media messages and greater skepticism towards the similarity of media messages than adolescents. Additionally, greater skepticism towards the desirability and realism of media messages was associated with lower body dissatisfaction while greater critical thinking about media messages was found to be positively related to greater body dissatisfaction. It is possible that greater critical thinking within the context of media literacy cannot occur without increased attention towards or time spent thinking about media messages. Findings suggest that enhancing critical thinking about the media may not be the main mechanism of change for effective media literacy interventions. These findings underscore the complexities that exist within the relationships between media literacy and body dissatisfaction and highlight the continued need for research in this area.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors report there are no competing interests to declare.
(Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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