Magazines: What Adolescent Girls are reading and the way they shape body image.
Research implies that most teens do not choose healthy methods of weight loss; they take diet pills, force themselves to throw up, and restrict daily caloric intake to dangerously low levels
I have worked as a clinical dietitian for many years so this statement is one that I have witnessed firsthand. Teens do not always consider the source of the diet information and are drawn by quick fixes, trendy fad diets and influenced by what others are doing. In this article the teenage girl is the focus however due to the same pressures we are seeing more teen boys develop eating disorders. There is a movement to have more typical teen models in these teen magazines to help with this body image problem but there is still so much misinformation being put out there about weight loss. I read the covers at the grocery store waiting to checkout and often think while the diet that was the begin all end all last week has been replaced with a better one this week. While I can laugh at this as an adult many teens would not even think about last week’s issue.
Here is a video about media messages and teens
References
Robles-Pina, R., & Sauer, H. (2003). Magazines: What adolescent girls are reading and the way they shape body image. Retrieved from http://www.advancingwomen.com/awl/winter2003/SAUERR~1.html
Dellington, J. (2010, January 25). www.youtube.com . [0]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgUE4BeWM-g&feature=related
I'm surprised that magazine are still allowed to make false and dangerous claims that one can and should be able to loose five pounds in three days. I think its statemented to how powerful media corporations are. Right now most teens and adults get information about health from the Internet which is also loaded with advertisements that are only trying to sell product rather than deliver truthful information about healthy eating habits and body images.
ReplyDeleteDenise knowing my background it goes without saying that I preach all the time about claims made on magazine covers. I always use Women's World as my example each week they have a new diet that was better than the week before.
Delete