The social psychological impact of gender images in media: A multi-level analysis of girls, peer networks, and media organizations

Research in cultural sociology focuses on either media organizations' power to create and maintain social definitions or individuals' power to interpret media images and produce varied meanings, including critical assessments. This project expands sociological studies of culture theoretically and methodologically through a multi-level, multi-method approach in which the power of media organizations and their products to shape self-image, and the power of individuals within social networks to interpret and critique those images, is assessed concurrently. The impact of gender imagery in media is examined through an analysis of adolescent girls and their close friends, and editorial workers at national girls' magazine organizations. Data from over 400 ninth- and tenth-graders at one rural and one urban high school indicate media's influence on self-identity; white girls, who compare most negatively with media ideals, are less satisfied with appearance and have lower self-esteem in comparison to boys and black girls. Regression analyses show that criticism of the magazines does not reduce the impact of the images on mental health. Interviews with 60 girls indicate that many are critical of the unrealistic images of females in media, and see media ideals as problematic. Even so, white girls are affected by media due to the belief that others, especially males, are influenced by media-created definitions. The peer networks of black girls, however, may allow for alternatives to mainstream media images of females. Interviews with 11 staff members at girls' magazine organizations indicate that girls' criticism is somewhat tempered by institutional forces. Editors also question the imagery within their media products, but acknowledge impediments to changing the unrealistic definition of female beauty. Ironically, criticism of and ambivalence about gender images in media by both girls and media staff do not preclude the cultural products' influences on the self.