Peer Pressure and Its Influence on Females Appearance Schemas and Body Dissatisfaction - Essay Example

Running Head: PSYCHOLOGY LITERATURE REVIEW ON PEER PRESSURE AND ITS Psychology Literature Review on Peer Pressure and its influence on female's appearance schemas and body dissatisfaction [Writer's Name] [Institution's Name] Psychology Literature Review on Peer Pressure and its influence on female's appearance schemas and body dissatisfaction Most past research on family influences has evaluated the role of peer pressure (particularly the best friend) in predicting various types of weight-loss strategies among their girlfriends. Very little research has investigated peer influences on the eating behaviors of adolescent females or explored strategies that may be more relevant to females (weight gain, muscle increase). Through modeling and encouragement from their best friends, girls with eating disorders were more likely to be rewarded for engaging in these behaviors than girls who did not experience eating disorders. Likewise, Kent and Clopton (2003) found that bulimic girls were more likely to have family members who also experienced weight and eating problems, and Moreno and Thelen (2003) found that bulimic girls were more likely to have best friends who encouraged them to lose weight and restrict their food intake. Benedikt, Wertheim, and Love (2002) and Paxton et al. (2003) found that best friends' encouragement to diet increased dieting behavior among adolescent girls. Dixon, Adair, and O'Connor (2000) also found that peer encouragement to diet (separate questions were not asked for other friends and boyfriend) was associated with both body dissatisfaction and dieting behaviors among adolescent girls. However, there was no overall association between the dieting practices of friends and those of adolescent girls, although boyfriends' dieting behavior was associated with some aspects of their girlfriends' dieting behaviors. Keel, Heatherton, Harnden, and Hornig (2001) also found that although boyfriends influenced their girlfriends' body dissatisfaction but not their eating practices, best friends had a greater influence on their girlfriends' dieting behaviors. In contrast to these findings, Steiger, Stotland, Ghadiriam, and Whitehead (2003) found no difference among binge eaters, dieters, and no dieters in the eating concerns of family members. The authors suggested that rather than an actual eating disturbance, it may be a general tendency toward some form of psychopathology that is associated with eating disturbance among adolescent girls. A follow-up study by Steiger, Stotland, Trottier, and Ghadiriam (2000) indicated that there was some association between girlfriends' and best friends' eating concerns, but that the strongest influence on disordered eating among adolescent girls was psychopathological traits of friends. Other researchers have also reported that friends of eating-disordered adolescents did not differ from control-group friends on dietary restraint or eating disturbances (Evans & le Grange, 2003; Leon, Fulkerson, Perry, & Dube, 2003), although some studies have revealed a relationship between best friends' eating restraint and that of their girlfriends but not of their sons (Ruther & Richman, 2003; Scourfield, 2003; Thelen & Cormier, 2003). The results from the aforementioned studies demonstrate a lack of clarity in the extent to which best friends and boyfriends may influence body satisfaction and disturbed eating among adolescent females and girls, with a particular focus on girls. Furthermore, that research has focused on weight loss but neglected consideration of strategies to gain weight and increase muscle tone. These are strategies that may be particularly relevant to adolescent females, but the impact of peer feedback on these strategies has not been explored. It is important to determine the nature of the feedback provided to adolescent females, how it differs from that provided to adolescent girls, and the impact of this feedback on weight gain and strategies to increase muscle, as well as weight loss. Peers also seem to exert some pressure among adolescent girls who adopt extreme weight-loss behaviors. Bulimics report being pressured by their peers to engage in both bingeing and purging (Mitchell, Hatsukami, Pyle, & Eckert, 2001; Stice, Nemeroff, & Shaw, 2000). In contrast, Paxton et al. (2003) claimed that few female friends encouraged dieting, and Gibbs (2001) found that the self-reported number of friends who were currently dieting was not a significant predictor of disordered eating among high school girls. The inconsistency in these findings is probably related to differences in the extent of eating problems among the adolescents in the various studies and to the different measures of disordered eating. A substantial body of literature has evaluated the media's impact on adolescent body image and disordered eating among girls. As for the other sociocultural influences, the media's impact on body dissatisfaction and weight loss among females has been neglected, as well as the research on weight gain and strategies to increase muscles. Because some females who are in early adolescence evidence a desire to increase body bulk, but others evidence a desire to increase muscle tone (McCabe & Ricciardelli, 2001a), we consider these two dimensions separately. This separation also seems to be important given our limited understanding of body-change strategies adopted by adolescent females and the confusion in the literature regarding the use of the terms "increase weight" and "increase muscle." As future researchers address this issue, it may become apparent that the two concepts share a substantial amount of variance, but we cannot assume that this is the case. Cusimano and Thompson (2001) found that both awareness of societal pressures and internalization of social standards of appearance were significant predictors of body image, eating dysfunction, and self-esteem among a group of college women. However, Posavac, Posavac, and Posavac (2002) found in a series of studies that media images were more likely to influence women who already experienced weight concerns, with women with low body dissatisfaction being less likely to respond to media influences. Griffiths and McCabe (2000) found that although perceived views of society predicted body dissatisfaction among adolescent gifts, these sociocultural pressures did not predict disordered eating after the researchers accounted for a range of other biological and psychological adjustment variables. Few studies have examined the combined effects of family, peers, and the media within a single research design. In particular, no studies have examined the impact of these variables on adolescent females and their strategies to increase weight and muscle tone. Levine, Smolak, and Hayden (2003) assessed eating behavior, body satisfaction, and concern about being slender among 385 gifts aged 10 to 14 years. The authors found that the media and teasing and criticism by peer pressure were the strongest predictors of body dissatisfaction and drive for thinness. Family and peers, but not the media, were found to be the strongest influences on bulimic symptomatology among young adult women (Stice, 2002). Stice found that this influence took place through social reinforcement and modeling, a finding that is supported by earlier research. Taylor et al. (2002) found that peers were the strongest influence on weight concerns among high school girls, although the media also significantly influenced concerns about weight. Perceived pressure to be thin from family, friends, dating partners, and the media has been shown to be related to bulimic symptoms (Irving, 2000; Stice, Ziemba, Margolis, & Flick, 2000). Most studies have focused on gifts and on weight-loss behaviors. Whether the same relationships apply to females or to other body-change strategies are unclear. Ricciardelli, McCabe, and Ban field (2000) found that friends, siblings, friends, and the media were perceived by about one third of the adolescent females in their study to have an influence on their feelings about their body and their body-change strategies. However, there were only 40 participants in this study, so it is not possible to extend the findings to adolescent females in general. Obtaining a better understanding of sociocultural influences on body dissatisfaction and body-change behaviors among adolescent females requires inclusion of all the major sociocultural influences--best friend, boyfriend, best male friend, best female friend, and media--within the single study. It is also vital to investigate the impact of these influences on strategies to increase weight and muscle tone as well as strategies for weight loss, because these are behaviors that are more likely to move females closer to the ideal body generated by society. It is also important to obtain a clearer picture of the sociocultural messages for adolescent girls in this broader range of body change techniques. References Benedikt, R., Wertheim, E. H., & Love, A. (2002). Eating attitudes and weight-loss attempts in female adolescents and their best friends. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 27, 43-57. Cusimano, D. C., & Thompson, J. K. (2001). 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Mirror images: Effects of the standard of beauty on the self- and body-esteem of women exhibiting varying levels of bulimic symptoms. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 9, 230-242. Keel, P. K., Fulkerson, J. A., & Leon, G. R. (2001). Disordered eating precursors in pre and early adolescent girls and boys. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 26, 203-216. Keel, P. K., Heatherton, T. F., Harnden, J. L., & Hornig, C. D. (2001). Best friends, boyfriends and girlfriends: Dieting and disordered eating. Eating Disorders, 5, 216-228. Kent, J. S., & Clopton, J. R. (2003). Bulimic women's perceptions of their family relationships. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 48, 281-292. Leon, G. R., Fulkerson, J. H., Perry, C. L., & Dube, A. (2003). Family influences, school behaviors, and risk for the later development of an eating disorder. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 23, 499-515. Levine, M. P., Smolak, L., & Hayden, H. (2003). 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(2003). Desire to be thinner and weight control among children and their friends. Behavior Therapy, 26, 85-99. Read More