ABSTRACT
Research on ideal-body media use and body image and eating disorders among child and adolescent media users has been ongoing for approximately 30 years. Although media content, formats, and technologies have changed dramatically, the relationship between exposure to thin-ideal media and body image and disordered eating has stayed remarkably consistent, with average standardized effect sizes tracking in the modest to moderate range (about .20 to .40). Heredity, gender, age, and race/ethnicity moderate these relationships in meaningful ways. Social media have introduced new ways beyond exposure that engagement with media may be consequential for youth body image. Theory-building must attend to family, peers, and media as overlapping influences in the ecology of everyday life when conceptualizing modern media influences on body image.
