Examining the Effects of Popular Children’s Media on Young...

Examining the effects of popular children’s Media on young girls’ body image Sharon Hayes and Stacey Tantleff-Dunn University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida, USA A study was done to explore the effects of short exposure to appearance-related media on young girls’ body image. Some writings/studies has suggested that girls at the age of 6 and older are experiencing problems with their body, or body dissatisfaction (Dohnt amp; Tiggemann, 2005). Some researchers are even saying that girls as young as 5 are having problems with their body image. There is some evidence that suggests that young children are aware of being thin or the â€Å"thin ideal† that exists in today’s society. Researchers are focusing on the information underneath†¦show more content†¦The children all took headshots so that the pictures could be placed on the computer to create child figures. The children were allowed to pick what they thought they looked like and the bodies either got thinner or heavier with whichever body they chose. The body image was then calculated by subtracting the figure chosen as the perceived current size from the figur e chosen as the ideal size. A negative score indicates a desire for a thinner size, a positive score indicates a desire for a heavier size, and a score of zero indicates that one is content with their size. For the procedure, children were randomly assigned to controlled and experimental groups. A digital headshot was taken of each kid. There was a research assistant who took a child into a room with a couch, a mirror, and a television. At first, each child was asked questions about their appearance and say what they thought of themselves. Then they were shown and asked to look at three adult princesses and three children princesses all-varying in weight and choose the one they believe is the ‘real princess.’ After that, they were taken to watch the clips of the videos. After they were done with the clips, the child was taken to a playroom containing dress-up stations, a vanity, blocks, Legos, dinosaurs, etc. Free play was for 8-15 minutes. After playing, they wereShow MoreRelatedStereotypes In Disney Stereotypes863 Words   |  4 Pagessuch as being a gorgeous thin Caucasian girl or a muscle man. Even though the stories have been made to be more mainstream than the origin al fairytales written by Charles Perrault, the Grimm brother’s and Hans Christian Anderson; the stories still keep the idealistic portrayals of gender types from their damsel to their definitive hero. This paper will focus on gender stereotypes, body image of female characters in Disney films, and its effect on young girls. 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