Effects Of Exposure To Asian Cultural Portrayals Of Thinness On Young Chinese Women

Body dissatisfaction results from a discrepancy between one's actual body or physical appearance and one's ideal body or physical appearance,and contributes to other negative experiences including depression,anxiety,and eating disorders.Leading sociocultural accounts including the Tripartite Influence Model(TIM)emphasize media pressure and idealized portrayals of physical appearance as critical influences on the development of body dissatisfaction,particularly media depictions and promotion of the thin body ideal for girls and women.Although many previous studies have supported these ideas in samples of young Western women,fewer studies have been conducted among young women in Asian countries where rates of body dissatisfaction,cosmetic surgery,and disordered eating appear to be increasing.To address this gap,three studies from the current thesis were designed to assess perceptions of Chinese appearance media portrayals and effects exposure to idealized images of Asian women on state body satisfaction and attention allocation among young Chinese women.In Study 1,500 undergraduate Chinese women completed questionnaire measures of their experience with appearance media from China/Asia versus Western countries.Analyses indicated participants experienced more pressure from Chinese media than Western related to being thin and having an attractive face in addition to making more comparisons with physical appearance portrayals in Asian media and expressing stronger preferences for Asian appearance media.No Chinese versus Western media differences were found regarding pressure to be taller.Study 1 challenged contentions that “Westernization” is a key influence on appearance perceptions of young Chinese women and provided strong overall evidence for appearance depictions from Chinese media as being more salient than Western media depictions for this group.Study 2 was designed to assess the impact of exposure to depictions of the thin ideal from Chinese social media on state body satisfaction of young Chinese women.Participants(N = 176)completed several measures of body image and affect and were randomly assigned to view image presentation shows featuring(1)explicit portrayals of thin Chinese women passing the “challenge” of reaching behind their back with the right hand and touching their belly buttons to highlight their thin waists versus(2)implicit thin portrayals of the same thin women holding a piece of paper passing the “challenge” of a difficult exam versus(3)a control condition of average size women also holding a piece of paper passing the “challenge” of a difficult exam.A 2(time: pre-test vs.post-test)× 3(presentation picture type: explicit thin group vs.implicit thin group vs.control group)analysis of variance(ANOVA)indicated there were no significant differences body satisfaction changes as a result of exposure to explicit thin versus implicit thin versus average size images.However,results of partial correlation analyses controlling for baseline state satisfaction levels within each group indicated that,among women in the explicit thin condition but not women in the other conditions,high levels of self-reported body surveillance and more trait body dissatisfaction were related to significant losses of state “mid-section” body parts satisfaction(stomach,thighs,haunches)following exposure to images.In sum,Study 2 indicated exposure to explicit portrayals of thin Chinese women did not cause losses of state mid-section body satisfaction for women in general.However,when young women reported high pre-existing levels of body surveillance and trait body dissatisfaction,exposure to explicit thin images,but not other image types,was related to losses in post-exposure state body satisfaction.Study 3 was designed to assess differences in orienting of attention toward thin images between less body satisfied and more body dissatisfied women.Participants(N = 61)engaged in a modified dot-probe task featuring thin versus average image pairs of young Chinese women during which N2 pc amplitudes of event-related potentials were assessed as a measure of early attention allocation and after which accuracy and reaction times to probes following image offsets were measured.A 2(group: less satisfied group vs.satisfied group)× 2(laterality: ipsilateral vs.contralateral)ANCOVA revealed a significant N2 pc effect for Group with less body satisfied women showing enhanced N2 pc amplitudes in response to thin Asian body pictures compared to body satisfied women.Conversely,no significant effects were found for accuracy and reaction time.Study 3 was the first to indicate less body satisfied young women display a bias in early attention allocation during exposure towards thin body images than is not shown in accuracy and reaction time measures following image offsets.In sum,Study 1 indicated physical appearance depictions from Chinese media are more salient for young Chinese women than appearance portrayals of young Western women.Therefore,in Studies 2 and 3,effects of exposure to thin images of young Chinese women were the focus.Study 2 results indicated there was no evidence that exposure to explicit portrayals of thinness from Chinese women caused losses of state body satisfaction for women in general.However,for young Chinese women reporting high levels of trait body surveillance and body dissatisfaction,exposure to explicit thin portrayals,but not other types of portrayals,was related to losses of state body satisfaction following exposure.Study 3 indicated less trait body satisfied young Chinese women also show biases in early attention allocation towards thin images based on larger N2 pc amplitudes,an effect that is not shown among body satisfied young Chinese women.Taken together,these findings underscore the salience of Chinese media portrayals of appearance for young Chinese women.In addition,findings suggest that negative effects of exposure to idealized thin Chinese portrayals on state body satisfaction and attention are not likely for young Chinese women in general,but are especially likely for those who are already concerned or dissatisfied with their body and physical appearance.Hence,interventions to buffer negative effects of Chinese appearance media should target young Chinese women who are already unhappy with their appearance.