The media's impact on body image: Implications for prevention and treatment

Recent research has demonstrated that media images of “ideal” female models have an impact upon women's body image, leading to dissatisfaction and perceptual distortion. The evidence for this link between media presentation and body image distortion is reviewed, and theoretical models are advanced to explain the link. In particular, women's use of social comparison in establishing their self-concept seems to be an important psychological construct in understanding the impact of the media upon body image. Based on empirical evidence and proposed psychological mediators, a number of measures are suggested that might prevent media effects or that might be used to treat those effects. In particular, psychoeducational preventative measures and group-based treatments seem to offer the greatest promise.