Media influences and their relationship with body-esteem and self-esteem.
Authors
Willis, Martin
Issue Date
2015
Degree
BA (Hons) in Psychology
Publisher
Dublin Business School
Rights holder
Rights
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Abstract
The aim of the current research is to investigate the relationship between media influences body-esteem and self-esteem. Age and gender are also variables. Technology assures a growing increase in exposure to media influences. A great concern is the effect this exposure is having on the population in terms of body-esteem and self-esteem. A total of 60 participants took part in this study, 24 of which were male and 36 female. The participant’s age ranged from 18 to 54 and above. The research was quantitative in nature and made use of 3 questionnaires to gather the data for analysis. The questionnaires were, The Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965). The Body Shape Questionnaire (Cooper & Fairburn, 1986). And lastly, The Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire (Thompson, Schaefer, Burke, Heinberg, Calogero, Bardone-Cone & Vercellone, 2011). The results showed that females indicated higher levels of media influence and lower levels of body-esteem when compared to males. The results also showed strong relationships between body-esteem, media influences and self-esteem. Significance was also found between gender and body-esteem. No significant relationships were found when analysing age and the 3 variables. Author keywords: mass media, body-esteem, self-esteem