The Mirror of Television: A Comparison of Black and White Adolescents' Body Image

Abstract

Research has shown differences in the extent of eating-disordered attitudes and behaviors between African American and European American women. However, the extent to which those differences are a result of differences in cognitive processing and exposure of mediated images remains untested. This study tests that notion through the framework of social comparison theory. The sample consists of 145 White and 33 Black females from 2 high schools in 2 medium-sized Midwestern cities. Results indicate that African American girls do respond differently to and are differently affected by thin images than European American girls. However, there are also some similarities between the adolescents that foreshadow a narrowing of the ethnic gap in the development of eating disorders.