Media consumption and body image disturbance in late elementary school -age children

The purpose of this study was to examine the possible relationship between television media consumption and body image dissatisfaction in late elementary school-age children. Three-hundred-fifty-seven fourth and fifth grade students participated in the study. Participants completed a demographic questionnaire, television viewing inventory, and child figure drawings. Total hours of television consumed and types of programs consumed were measured by the television viewing inventory. The child figure drawings measured body image disturbance levels as well as the children's preference for ideal same sex child, ideal other sex child, ideal female adult, and ideal male adult. Media consumption appeared to be generally unrelated to body image disturbance in late elementary school-age children. Television consumption was unrelated to children's preferences for ideal male adult, ideal female child, and ideal female adult figures. It was theorized that children may not have viewed a large enough amount of programming containing idealized images for their views of body image to have been significantly related to media consumption. Females who consumed more television that displayed idealized male bodies, men who were fit and muscular, preferred thinner ideal male child figures. Although the overall weight of the figures was less, the thinner male figures may have actually appeared to have been in better shape and to have been more muscular with a lower level of body fat and thus closer to the ideal male figure presented by the media. Children with higher body mass indices displayed higher levels of body image disturbance. The results of this study may mean that late elementary school-age children's body images are unrelated to media consumption. Limitations of this study included the selection of the sample and the reliability of the information provided due to the young age of the participants. The instrument may have been problematic in the measure of ideal male children and adults. Implications for future research would include a similar study with different ages of children in an attempt to discern an age when media consumption may start to become significantly related to body image disturbance. It is suggested future studies examine a more ethnically diverse sample over a wider age group.