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Media Influences on Body Size Estimation in Anorexia and Bulimia

An Experimental Study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Kate Hamilton
Affiliation:
Department of General Practice, University of Aberdeen
Glenn Waller*
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT
*
Correspondence

Abstract

Anorexic end bulimic women overestimate their body sizes substantially more than comparison women, but little is known about the factors that influence this overestimation. This study examined the influence of media portrayal of idealised female bodies in women's fashion magazines. Comparison women were not affected by the nature of the photographs that they saw, but eating-disordered women were - they overestimated more when they had seen the pictures of women than when they saw photographs of neutral objects.

Type
Brief Reports
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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