Contemporary Study - Becker et al (2002)

A:

• Investigate whether prolonged exposure to Western television would lead to increased disordered eating attitudes and behaviours in ethnic Fijian girls especially in a culture whether there was low eating disorder rates

Method/ Sample:

• Two independent samples of Fijian schoolgirls from the same secondary school

• 1995 - 63 girls average age 17

• 1998 - 65 girls average age 17

Method:

1. TV wasn’t available in the region before 1995 but 1998 TV programmes were widely available

2. Measure using EAT -26 - standardised questionnaire assessing disorder and score higher than 20 shows high risk of disorder

3. Height and weight to calculate BMI

4. Those in the 1998 with high score had further interviews semi structured exploring link between TV and body image

What was the study used?

Cross sectional Study

Used Quantitative data in questionnaire scores and Qualitative in the interviews

R:

EAT scores increased:

• 1995 about 12% to 13%

• 1998 about 29%

• Self reporting purging - vomiting to control body weight- was significantly more common in 1998 than 1995

Qualitative findings:

• Admired sim TV characters and wanting to becoming models themselves

• Saw dieting and weight loss as a way to achieve success and social mobility

• Shifting from Traditional Fijian values

C:

Media Influence:

• Prolonged exposure to Western TV appears to have negative impact on eating attitudes and behaviours, increasing disordered eating risk in cultures that were previously rare

Clinical and psychological relevance:

• Supports SLT and sociocultural explanations of eating disorders - girls may internalise thin ideals and imitate models seen on TV

What are the strengths:

Naturalistic -

• High ecological validity TV was introduced naturally and not manipulated in the lab

Prospective design -

• Looks at changes over time before vs after TV supporting the temporal link between TV exposure and disordered eating

Mixed Methods;

• Used both qualitative (interviews) and quantitative (scores) providing rich data

What are the weaknesses?

Not a real experiment:

• Decreases reliability - may be other cofounding variables which could explain further the changes

Ethnocentric:

• Only Fijian girls - findings may not generalise to boys, other ages or other cultures

Self - report issues:

• EAT -26 and interviews rely on honesty and insight and social desirability or misunderstanding could affect validity