Media and Body Image

Final Research Paper

Abstract
The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between eating disorders and gender. Surveys were issued to both males and females aged from 17 to 18 to investigate body satisfaction, opinions on the factors that influence eating disorders, and opinion on the growing importance of eating disorders in our society. The results showed that 75% of males were satisfied with their bodies where as only 33% of females were satisfied. 80% of participants agreed that body dissatisfaction stems from media sources such as magazines. Generally, females are more exposed to this type of media then males.

Introduction
The question guiding this research was concerned with women being more likely to suffer from eating disorders then men. Therefore, the independent variable is gender and the dependant variable is eating disorders. This study aims to discover if women really are more vulnerable to this disease and why this may be the case. To gain some insight, surveys were distributed to both male and female Dawson college students, aged from about 17-19 years old, at random selection. They were asked questions on how they feel about their body type, what factors they believe influence eating disorders, whether they believe that eating disorders are becoming an increasing problem in our society, etc. By comparing both answers from males and females, it will be possible to gain insight by comparing their different point of views on the subject.

Limitations
The sampling method chosen for this research was self-administed questionnaires. Although this method of sampling is cost efficient and not very time consuming, it does present limitations. Primarily, a limitation of the survey method is close-ended questions. Often the answers may lack detail. Therefore the researcher is at risk of lacking depth to his answers. Next, open-ended questions are hard to code. For example, a certain answer may be pertinent to the researcher but hard to categories along with other answers. Finally, the ideal sampling method would include a larger sample in order to evaluate the participants’ feedback at a greater scope. Moreover, an experiment that evaluates the relationships between the affects of the media on women versus men would add a lot of insight to the study due to the fact that many participants agreed that media affected eating disorder victims.

Further Implications
Future studies investigating eating disorders and gender may want to look into the medical side of eating disorders rather then only on the factors that influence them. Eating disorders have been proven to be a psychological disease. Therefore, the evaluation of rehabilitation programs of actual eating disorder victims may reveal what pushed the patients to this state and what they have to ignore to move forward. Just as all participants in this study agreed, media has a huge impact on body satisfaction. However, every person is a victim of the media, but not a victim of eating disorder. This proves that there are more factors that influence people with eating disorders.

Conclusion
This study aims to find out if women are more likely to suffer from eating disorders, and if so, why. Finally, the surveys showed that only 33% of females were satisfied with their bodies where as 75% of males were satisfied with how they looked. This proves that girls are more likely to feel self-conscious about their appearance. This self-consciousness is what may eventually lead to an eating disorder. Moreover, 80% of participants believed that the media was at fault for most insecurity about body type. Many media sources listed by the participants, such as fashion magazines, are aimed more towards women. This can explain why women are more likely to develop eating disorders. To conclude, women may be more vulnerable to eating disorders due to the fact that many media sources aimed towards women push a certain unrealistic body type consequently making women insecure about their bodies.

Appendix A

Reference
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Striegel-Moore, R. H., Rosselli, F., Perrin, N., DeBar, L., Wilson, G., May, A., & Kraemer, H. C. (2009). Gender difference in the prevalence of eating disorder symptoms. International Journal Of Eating Disorders, 42(5), 471-474.