essay

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Effect of Beauty Standards through Various Media 10

on Female Adolescents Mental Health 11

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Amber Scott, Linh Hoang, Liyar Chang 14

University of Washington Bothell 15

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Introduction 24

All forms of media are saturated by beauty standards, and it is this western beauty 25

standard that many cultures look up to. The common underlying theme of the western ideal body 26

is having large breasts, whiter skin and bigger eyes (Hartlep, 2015). As for the optimal facial 27

features, women should have big eyes, the bridge of the nose should be high, and the chin should 28

be small (Zhang, 2015). Having a slender yet built body frame, sharp nose with a high bridge 29

complimenting the small face is what many youths are exposed to through all forms of media. 30

Society has created an unrealistic vision of beauty, it all started with the “classic fairy tales” 31

(Graydon, 2004). The classic fairy tales paint a picture such as Cinderella, who is the ideal 32

women. Ideal body images embedded in the early stages of childhood affects the later 33

development of mental health through the use of media. 34

The double standards of the ideal body image for women have a negative effect on their 35

self-esteem. The creation of social media and mainstream media has resulted in young adults 36

feeling anxiety and having low self-esteem when they do not look like the ideal image (Britton, 37

2012). A significant amount of research has been conducted about the beauty standard 38

particularly the beauty trends within America. Beauty standards through the use of social and 39

mainstream media have a negative effect on female adolescent mental health. Having 40

unreachable standards causes several mental health issues such as low self-esteem, depressive 41

symptoms and anxiety. Supported by Wilcox and Laird (2000), the constant slander of the way 42

you look, models on magazines of female attractiveness can also cause increased weight 43

concern, depressed which lead to reducing self-esteem among women. Regardless of the type of 44

beauty that young women stray to, women suffer the double standards of ideal body image and 45

are heavily criticized no matter what. 46

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The general population of men have this standard as to what a ‘real’ woman should look 47

and act like because this is what is constantly shown throughout media. The Cinderella ideal is 48

detrimental to female self-esteem because females are now pressured to fit into a “mold” that 49

they are not. Previous research found that the unrealistic images of women portrayed on 50

television and magazines advertisement were an important contributing factor to poor body 51

image among women (Henderson-King & Henderson-King, 1997). Over 80% of college-aged 52

women report being dissatisfied with their bodies (Spitzer, Henderson, & Zivian, 1999). 53

Women’s appearance is being used to sell products in advertisement. Advertisements use photo 54

shopped models, preying on women’s insecurities, forcing them to spend money to fit into the 55

model mold. Therefore, it is evident that physical appearance and the ideal body image have a 56

strong association with adolescent girls’ self-esteem (Polce-Lynch, Myers, Kliewer, & Kilmartin, 57

2001). 58

Social media has greatly affected the way women see themselves in comparison to others. 59

Young females who are regularly exposed to and utilize social media platforms such as 60

Instagram and Facebook, often compare their physical traits to their peers, which results in high 61

depressive symptoms (Choukas-Bradley, Nesi, Widman, & Higgins, 2018). Photo based social 62

media sites such as Instagram are primarily centered on physical appearance. Many young 63

females post altered images of themselves because they are fixated on the number of likes to 64

reaffirm that they are beautiful. When that is not achieved, it can cause dissatisfaction when 65

comparing the ideal body image to their own (Choukas-Bradley, Nesi, Widman, & Higgins, 66

2018). Exposure of fitspiration on Instagram also result in greater body dissatisfaction because 67

adolescents are exposed to “thin, healthy, and idealized”, a body that is not ideal or achievable 68

for everyone (Sherlock & Wagstaff, 2018). Major social media platforms utilize visual mediums 69

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which are the main contributors to development of depressive symptoms that can also lead to the 70

increase of anxiety disorders. 71

The negative effects of the portrayal of women has caused unrealistic beauty standards. 72

This can cause Social Media Anxiety Disorder, which is the fear of interacting with people and 73

getting the feeling that someone is evaluating, or judging you which results in feeling inferior 74

and self-conscious. This disorder can result in multiple symptoms, primarily anxiety and 75

depression (Pramod, 2017). Chapman agrees with Pramod that when you see an advertisement of 76

social media you get the anxiety to follow the trend (Chapman, 2011). American culture makes it 77

clear that every woman is too big by the standards of the new norm. If you don’t already have 78

confidence, you will struggle mentally by doubting yourself whether you can conform to the 79

norm or not. Where do all these beauty standards start from? There have been studies shown that 80

at a young age we are exposed to Barbie dolls which has a thin figure, long hair, big eyes, and 81

small lips. If we all identical then we wouldn’t have anything to compare ourselves (Gould, 82

2017). 83

Studies have been conducted regarding the psychological health effects of the ideal 84

beauty standards on women. However, these findings are limited because many studies only 85

explore certain age or ethnic groups. Most research studies are only surveying teenagers which 86

lacks the young adult population and there are only specific ethnic groups that have been 87

examined. To address this gap in the literature, this research proposal is conducting an 88

explanatory cross-sectional study by examining at the three main mental health effects of beauty 89

standards on women ranging from the ages 16-28. The research question is: what are the effects 90

of beauty standards from media on women’s mental health? The research hypothesis is that 91

beauty standards on the media has negative effects on young females’ mental health. 92

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Method 93

Study Design 94

A cross-sectional design will be used in this proposal. Cross-sectional study is the most 95

appropriate and suitable method because there are no long-term considerations involved and 96

information will be collected from large number of participants. This study will be anonymous 97

which will allow participants to feel safer when talking about their mental health. Cross-sectional 98

study also allows large data to be collected and examined the association between beauty 99

standard that portray in the media and its effect among young females. Multiple outcomes can be 100

studied. This research design is inexpensive and easy to conduct when looking at a good sample 101

of population. 102

Population and Sampling 103

A cross-sectional study of 1,000 females U.S. citizens nationally. The ages of the unit of 104

analysis ranges from 16-28. Participants will be asked to complete online self-report measures of 105

self-esteem, depression, anxiety, their attitudes toward appearance and body image as part of a 106

larger study, and self-take anthropometric measurements of weight and height. The eligibility 107

criteria were English proficiency with no past medical condition regarding anxiety, depression 108

and low self-esteem. For this research, participants will be recruited throughout the nation via 109

media advertisements; social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and 110

YouTube and magazines such as Cosmopolitan, InStyles, Seventeen and Teen Vogue. A large 111

population will be necessary due to people dropping out over time because of the sensitivity of 112

questions are being conducted. 113

Ethical Considerations 114

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Many ethical considerations will be taking into account because our target population is 115

1,000 females 16-28 years old. The study is voluntary participation; participants can withdraw 116

from the research at any time. To conduct this study, 16 and 17 years old participants will need 117

to sign assent form and their parents will need to sign a consent form before participating in the 118

study. Participants who are 18 and older will only require to complete voluntary consent form. 119

The survey and the data collected will be anonymous. An institutional review board (IRB) 120

approval will be needed from the University of Washington and the school districts will ensure 121

that the data obtained is accurate, no individuals were harmed in the process of this study. 122

Measures and Variables 123

The participants will be asked to complete a survey that contain close-ended and open-124

ended questions. The independent variable is beauty standards in media. The dependent variable 125

is mental health of female adolescents. The survey will address these variables by asking 126

questions that will provide a basis for comparison. Also, participants will be asking to provide 127

identifying information such as their BMI, age, income, occupation and marital status which is 128

confounding variables. The response measures used in the study included, The Heatherton Self-129

Esteem Scale, The Centre for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, and The Physical 130

Appearance State and Trait Anxiety Scale (Sherlock & Wagstaff, 2018). 131

The Heatherton Self-Esteem Scale (SSES) is a 20-item inventory measures momentary 132

self-esteem. It comprised of three independent subscales that measure: social interaction, 133

performance, and appearance self-esteem (Sherlock & Wagstaff, 2018). Example subscale 134

includes statements such as “I feel self-conscious”, “I am dissatisfied with my weight”, and “I 135

feel confident about my abilities”, etc. Items are rated on a 5-point scale from 1 (never) to 5 136

(always). This scale has high internal consistency and discriminative validity. The Centre for 137

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Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) is the 20-item self-report measure of 138

depression (Sherlock & Wagstaff, 2018). The higher scores on the inventory indicate greater 139

depression. Lastly, the 16-item Physical Appearance State and Trait Anxiety Scale (PASTAS) 140

assesses anxiety associated with various body sites that contribute to the anxiety related to 141

overall body image (Sherlock & Wagstaff, 2018). There are two versions, the Trait version and 142

the State version. Participants use the trait scale indicating how often they experienced anxious, 143

tense, or nervous you feel in general about your body or specific parts of your body. The State 144

version assesses current body image anxiety. Both measurements contain questions about non-145

weight-related parts (i.e., lips) and aspects of the body related to weight (i.e., “my waists”) using 146

a 5-point rating scale. Like the SSES and CES-D, higher scores are associated with higher levels 147

of appearance anxiety. 148

Procedures 149

The data for our research will be collected through survey that is given to the participants 150

that has signed the consent form. Data will also be collected from participants who are between 151

the ages 16 or 17 years old via assent form and consent form from parents. Once the conductor 152

has the consent forms then the participants will be given a survey to complete that contains 50 153

questions about how beauty standards effects their mental health. An example question from 154

SSES scale would be, “Do you compare your body image to a Victoria secret’s model on a 155

magazine?” An example of the second scale, CES-D, would be, “Do you feel unhappy when 156

comparing your body image to magazine models?” For the third scale, PASTAS, an example 157

would be, “Do you have anxiety when you see your waist not as slim as you wanted?” The third 158

scale questions would then go into specifics about other body parts. A follow up would not be 159

required after the survey. 160

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Analysis 161

This study will use both quantitative and qualitative analysis. Quantitative data will be 162

analyzed using the three scale SSES, CES-D, and PASTAS. All three scale are using rated on a 163

5-point scale from 1 (never) to 5 (always). The higher the scores meant the higher level of low 164

self-esteem, anxiety, and depression. While qualitative analysis will be used to compile 165

confounding variables such as participant’s BMI, age, income, occupation and marital status in 166

open-ended questions provided in the survey. On account of using three measurement scales at 167

the same, this will result several data-items which will need use multivariate analysis to examine 168

relationships between all the variables mentioned above. 169

Discussion 170

Significance 171

This research, the effect of beauty standards through various media on female 172

adolescents’ mental health is critical because countless female adolescents are starting to be 173

exposed to any media at a very young age. With early exposure, many young female children are 174

developing long term crippling mental health issues. Low self-esteem, anxiety and depressive 175

symptoms are some of the mental health issues that are prevalent. This study can help evaluate 176

how much time young females allocate their time to any form of media, how influenced they are 177

and how detrimental beauty standards throughout numerous media can be on mental health. 178

Results from this study can be used for reference and applied to future studies in different 179

countries. This can be used in a campaign that may eventually lead to change in marketing styles 180

or unrealistic standards with the goal of portraying women as they are in life. 181

Limitations 182

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Due to the nature of the cross-sectional study method, there were some issues with this 183

design. One limitation is we cannot assume causation of how beauty standards in the media 184

affect women’s mental health; because there are no follow-ups for this study design. This study 185

excludes women who have prior mental health issues which means assessment for that 186

population is invalid. Another factor would be parental approval, for example some parents may 187

not want their kids to participate in this survey knowing that their children’s mental health is 188

being evaluated. In addition, there may not be enough participants within the ages of 16 and 17, 189

so the population for that age range is susceptible to bias due to low response rate. Participants 190

may also report false answers because they are self-conscious of their response. Furthermore, 191

being privileged enough to have access to social media may have skewed the demographics of 192

the survey results. The same can be said for ethnicity. 193

Future Research 194

Studies that will be conducted in the future could focus on the middle ages women from 195

ages 30 and up, instead of youth to the ages 28. Instead of the age of 16-28 years old, we can see 196

how beauty standards affected the mental health of middle ages in larger sample size for example 197

a worldwide study. Researchers could set a place where the participants can have a way of 198

hearing other participants on how beauty standards affected their mental health and if some 199

participants that didn’t have any effects would like to join they are welcome to join. This could 200

be where more research can be conducted on both groups, the ones affected by beauty standards 201

impact their mental health and the other group that don’t think that beauty standards affected 202

their mental health. Results that are used from this secondary study can be used to analyze, 203

compare between the younger population of women and middle age women. We anticipate that 204

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older women are still affected by social media and beauty standards, but in a different way than 205

younger women, who have more access to social media on a regular basis. 206

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