Self-Esteem and Body Image in Adolescents

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Self-Esteem and Body Image in Adolescents
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Defining Self-Esteem

• Self-esteem
• Individuals sense of his/her worth extent to
  which a person values, approves of, or
  appreciates himself/herself
• Self-concept
• more global sense of self-worth
• Self-efficacy
• Ones belief that one has the ability to complete
  or accomplish a particular task

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Body Image

• Linked to self-esteem and self-concept
• Shaped by past experiences (positive or negative)
• Boys and girls
• More complex than weight, height or muscle mass
• Not individual or optimal body size or weight but
  how you feel about your body and your life
  experiences

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What Is Body Image?

• Formed at an early age
• Influenced by our parents, caregivers, peers and
  life experiences
• Relates to how you feel about your body and what
  you think your body look like to others
• Perspectives may not be objective
• Every body is different
• Ideal body weight is the weight that allows us to
  feel strong and energetic and lets us lead a
  healthy life

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How do I know if I suffer from Body Image issues!

• Do you
• Weigh or measure yourself daily or more
• Allow the number on the scale to determine how
  you feel about yourself
• Under eat when with others and over eat when by
  yourself
• Restrict food intake all day and overeat on
  weekends
• Have a closet full of clothes in different sizes
• Believe that all of your lifes problems would be
  solved if only you were thin
• Feel guilty and ashamed when you eat anything
  other than diet food
• Find yourself constantly critical of your body or
  specific body parts
• Are waiting to be thinner before beginning any
  new activity like exercising, dating, getting a
  part time job etc

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Body Projects

• In the 20th century, American girls have made
  their bodies projects as a form of
  self-definition and self-expression.
• As the female body has become more and more
  exposed in the media (particularly in film) the
  demands on beauty and dietary regimens have
  increased.

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• A brief history
• 1920sthe century of svelte/slimming
• college women began dieting,
• flapper image in vogue
• 1930smodern bra comes into existence
• prior to this it was a camisole,
• store manufacturing of clothes rather than
  homemade girls are made to adapt
• bodies to clothes rather than the other
• way around

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More

• 1960sdieting becomes a persistent preoccupation,
  rather than episodic
• girls start dieting at 9 or 10 instead
• of 15
• 1980ssmaller bikinis, and the jeaning of
  America all promoted leaner thighs (NO thunder
  thighs)
• hair is also a major focus

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• 1990spiercings!
• what used to be exotic and more characteristic
  of primitive people becomes the latest form of
  self expression
• 2000s???
• Tattoos?
• Lasik vision correction?
• Teeth whitening?
• Cosmetic Surgery?

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Research on Media Exposure

• A 2005 study showed exposure to models (ultra
  thin or average size) resulted in lower body
  satisfaction and lower self-esteem in girls aged
  11-16.
• A 2003 study of female undergraduates showed that
  both magazine and TV exposure to thin ideals were
  related to body dissatisfaction. However the
  processes were very different
• Magazine exposure was related to internalization
  but not awareness of the thin ideal standard
• Television watching was negatively related to
  awareness, but not at all to internalization

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• In a 2005 study of the relationship between
  television viewing and body attitudes on 1,500
  eighth through eleventh grade boys and girls, the
  following was found
• girls considered themselves as more overweight
  than boys
• boys watched more TV than girls but watched
  sports, entertainment, and information shows for
  enjoyment while girls watched soap operas and
  music videos and did so for social learning
  purposes
• watching soap operas was related to drive for
  thinness for boys and girls
• watching music videos was not related to any body
  image variable for girls, but was related to
  drive for muscularity for boys

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Canadian Statistics on Eating Disorders

• 27 of Ontario girls 12 to 18 years old are
  engaged in disordered food and weight behaviour
• Third most common chronic illness in adolescent
  girls
• Almost one in every two girls and almost one in
  every five boys in Grade 10 either was on a diet
  or wanted to lose weight

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How Big Is the Body Image Problem?

• Increases the risk for extreme body/weight
  control behaviours
• Increased preoccupation with appearance and body
  dissatisfaction
• Increased risk for engaging in dangerous
  practices to control weight and size
• Can lead to more harmful behaviours
• Increased risk for developing disordered eating
  or an eating disorder.

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Positive and Negative Body Image

• People with positive body image exhibit
• Self-confidence, energy, vitality and positive
  self-appraisal
• Feelings of attractiveness and beauty
• Trust and respect for their bodies
• Freedom of expression with their bodies, not
  dependent on weight

• People with negative body image describe
• Dissatisfaction with their physical appearance
• Belief that their appearance is being scrutinized
  and evaluated by others
• Excessive emphasis on physical appearance in how
  they evaluate themselves
• Distressing preoccupation with their bodies
• Feelings of shame and/or embarrassment

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Positive Body Image

• Realistic perception of the body
• Understand that healthy, attractive bodies come
  in many shapes and sizes, and that physical
  appearance says very little about character or
  value
• Assessment of the body is separate from a sense
  of self-esteem

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Negative body image

• Body dysmorphic disorder
• Over-preoccupation with an imagined physical
  defect in appearance
• Usually nose, skin, or hair
• Anxiety and/or depression
• Muscle dysmorphia (bigorexia)
• Over-preoccupation with the perception or feeling
  that ones muscles are too small or too weak
• Spend unrealistic amounts of time working out in
  the gym, and yet they dont feel good enough

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What Are Some Factors That Affect Body Image?

• Standards set by society and the culture that
  surrounds us
• Comments from family, friends, and others about
  our bodies, their bodies, and other peoples
  bodies
• Self-esteem (view our bodies and evaluate
  ourselves)
• History of abuse, teasing, life changes, and
  physical changes that may be a result of puberty,
  medical problems, surgery or sports injuries
• Images of idealized versus normal bodies

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Eating Disorders

• Negative body image and body dissatisfaction
  increase risk
• Anorexia or bulimia nervosa
• Perceive themselves as being larger than they
  actually are
• Increase in dieting behaviour
• depression, decreased self-confidence, increased
  feelings of anxiety, feelings of unattractiveness
  and persistent concern about weight
• People with negative body image may
• Engage in excessive body checking
• Camouflage their size and shape with loose and
  bulky clothing
• Avoid social situations that trigger physical
  self-consciousness
• Avoid exposing their bodies

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How Do Eating and Body Image Go Together?

• Eating disorders are internal conflicts about
  food and/or body size and shape
• Healthy eating behaviours are associated with
  feeling confident about body shape and size
• Disordered eating behaviours are associated with
  a preoccupation with appearance and an attempt to
  change body size through a focus on diets

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Eating disorders

• Anorexia nervosa
• Fear of weight gain and severe restriction of
  food intake, which can result in significant
  weight loss
• Bulimia nervosa
• Attempt to avoid weight gain or to manage weight
  through frequent compensation by purging
• Binge eating disorder
• pattern of binge eating (feeling out of control
  while eating) without purging
• May take a variety of forms (mild to severe)

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Boosting a Body Image?

• What are three ways to boost body image?
• How can you change your body type?
• If you know people who are always comparing
  themselves to others in terms of appearance, what
  could you do or say to help?
• How could participating in physical activity
  contribute to positive body image?

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Exposure to Mass Media and Weight Concerns

• Girls between Grades 5 and 12
• 69 reported that magazine pictures influence
  their idea of the perfect body shape
• 47 reported wanting to lose weight because of
  magazine pictures
• Girls who were frequent readers of fashion
  magazines were two to three times more likely
  than infrequent readers
• To diet to lose weight because of a magazine
  article
• To exercise to lose weight because of a magazine
  article
• To feel that magazines influence what they
  believe is the ideal body shape

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Dove Self-Esteem Fund

• Think critically about the media and about how
  much the media work to influence people of all
  ages

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The Power of Advertising

• Advertising is the most influential media in our
  culture
• It reflects our daydreams, affects what we eat,
  what we wear, how we look and play.

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Perfection
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Women in Advertising

• Media portrays women in debilitating, demeaning
  and inaccurate ways
• It presents women as flawless, decorative
  objects, and creates unrealistic expectations for
  women

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Women are Decorative/Sex Objects
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Cultivating Images of Thinness

• In advertising, women receive more messages
  about slimness and staying in shape than men do
• thinness is associated with good health and
  attractiveness
• In fact, images of thinness are a major cause of
  the eating disorders of bulimia and anorexia.

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Thin is BeautifulThinness is Associated with
Health
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Magazine Models

• Dont believe everything that you see and read!

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Real or Not?
Real
Not
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Factoids

• 32 of female TV network characters are
  underweight 3 overweight
• 5 of females in North America are underweight
  25 overweight
• 90 of people with eating disorders are women
• According to Health magazine, Apr 2002

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Factoid

• there are 3 BILLION women who dont look like
  super models and only 8 who do
• Marilyn Monroe wore a size 12 (that would make
  her a PLUS size model today)
• If shop mannequins were real women, theyd be
  too thin to menstruate
• models in magazines are airbrushed theyre not
  perfect
• 20 years ago, models weighed 8 less than the
  average women. Today, they weigh 23 less

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Image Changes
4 years of age My mommy can do anything! 8
years of age My mom knows a lot. A whole
lot! 12 years of age My mom knows a lot,
but not everything. 14 years of age
Naturally, mother doesnt know that either. 16
years of age Mother! Shes totally
outdated 18 years of age Mom! Arggg! She
doesnt know todays stuff! 25 years of age
Maybe mom knows more than I gave her credit
for. 35 years of age Before we make this
big decision, lets see what mom
thinks! 45 years of age I wonder what mom
would think!??! 65 years of age I really
wish I could talk it over with my mom! Funny
how image changes over time! Dont get so caught
up with today!
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How to improve body image

• Celebrate our natural sizes enjoy the diversity
  of our body shapes
• Become informed and recognize and challenge myths
  and misperceptions about body image
• Challenge weight prejudice. Challenge the media.
• Boycott the diet industry
• Educate others around the issues of weight
  prejudice and set point theory
• Surround yourself with a range of realistic body
  images
• Surround yourself with positive people who build
  you up, not tear you down
• Positive affirmations learning to love yourself
  is a process, it takes time to truly love the
  skin you are in ?

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Body Myths

• Myth 1 Overeating Causes Overweight
• Animal research suggests at least 51 causes of
  overweight, including genetic, metabolic and
  other environmental factors.
• Myth 2 Dieting is Effective
• Clinical studies show that up to 95 of dieters
  regain the weight lost, usually within the first
  year. (yo-yo dieters)
• Myth 3 Dieting is Healthy
• In addition to inadequate nutrition, dieting has
  been implicated in the development of weakness,
  fatigue, binge eating, bulimia, weight gain and
  obesity. (Dont diet, make lifestyle changes!!!)
• Myth 4 Everyone Can Be Slim
• Many researchers are suggesting that the body has
  a "set point" or biological control for the
  amount fat in the body weight is determined
  predominately by genetics and early nutrition.