Physcial Apperances In The Media: How Do Children Percieve Annorexia Nervosa?

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to describe children’s perceptions of physical appearances of adolescents and young adults and how the media may influence their perceptions of physical appearances of adolescents and young adults. Before beginning any of the collection activities and materials, the study was approved by Texas A&M University’s Office of Research Compliance and Biosafety’s Human Subjects Protection Program (TAMU IRB). Using Objectified Body Consciousness Scale (OBC) developed by researchers McKinley and Hyde (1996). Researchers will describe a case study of 10 children, ages three through seven at The Natural Growth Center near San Antonio, TX. The children will be individually asked a series of three questions while looking at the OBC scale: 1.) Which image do you think you look like? 2.) Which image do you think is the healthiest? 3.) Which item told you to look like this? Images of television shows, magazines, and family will be shown. These questions will help researchers describe children’s perceptions of adolescents and young adult’s appearances and the media’s influence of physical characteristics. Throughout the focus groups, detailed notes were be taken by the researcher to describe if and/or how peers and the media influence affect children’s behavior. Subjects for this study had parental consent and assent to participate and were in the presence of their teacher. Data were then to minimize misrepresentation and misunderstanding and promote interpretation through various lenses (Stake, 1995). Researchers then reviewed the data as a group, aggregating data into categories, which were then collapsed into themes through direct interpretation.