18.7 Factors That Influence Body Image

Body image is complex, fluid, and influenced by many different internal and external factors. Researchers use various frameworks to describe the multiple factors at play as a person’s body image shifts, including (Festinger, 1954; Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997; Thompson, Heinberg, Altabe, & Tantleff-Dunn, 1999):

• interactions with peers and family,
• exposure to media,
• level of internalization of societal ideals when it comes to beauty and body shape and size,
• tendency to compare the self to others on specific attributes,
• tendency to self-objectify—particularly for women, and
• tendency to examine others.

Overall, body image research highlights many external contributors, but these factors can be mediated by internal and protective factors, too.

Interactions with Peers

Our friends, acquaintances, and even strangers can all influence body image. Research shows a consistent connection between teasing by peers and body dissatisfaction in adolescents and adults, and criticisms about appearance can negatively impact body image (Barker & Galambos, 2003; Thompson et al., 2007; Thompson, Cattarin, Fowler, & Fisher, 1995). Specifically, experiencing pressure to increase muscle mass predicts body dissatisfaction in boys and pressure from peers and adult relatives around weight loss increases body dissatisfaction among girls; criticizing appearance happens equally among boys and girls during adolescence (Lawler & Nixon, 2011). Among some, discussing appearance is a common conversation topic—how hair is worn, what clothes to wear, skin or weight concerns—but research shows just the act of having conversations with peers about appearance significantly predicts body dissatisfaction in adolescents (Lawler & Nixon, 2011).

Interactions with Family Members

Negative talk around appearance, body shape, or size; conversations about dieting behaviors; and sibling-to-sibling or parent-to-child teasing around weight or appearance are not uncommon within families (Berge et al., 2015). This kind of talk—sometimes referred to as fat talk or body talk—is associated with low self-esteem and negative body image in American youth regardless of the child’s weight (Eisenberg, Neumark-Sztainer, D., Haines, J., & Wall , 2006; Hayden-Wade, et al., 2005). While some of these interactions may seem to come from a good place—like concern around long-term health or athletic success—discussing the weight or size of the child, or giving a child suggestions to eat differently with the intention being to influence weight or shape, is associated with increased risk for negative health outcomes, like disordered eating (Berge et al., 2015). Keep in mind that in some cultures, commenting on a person’s appearance, including weight or size, is not necessarily considered malicious or harmful, but rather as a means of greeting. In other cultures, what we refer to as “fat talk” is a way friends and family members attempt to show they care about the health of a loved one. Weight stigma is not as common in some parts of the world compared to Western cultures, so commenting on a person’s appearance, weight, or size can merely be an observation.

Media and Body Image

Exposure to images portraying appearance or body ideals can influence one’s body image. This is important to consider alongside trends in internet-based media exposure, which tend to be powerful promoters of appearance ideals (Tiggemann & Miller, 2010). Certainly, some individuals are more susceptible and some are more resistant to this type of image-based pressure, and it isn’t mere exposure to media images that impact body image. Rather, internalization of body or appearance ideals mediates the relationship between media exposure and body image (Lawler & Nixon, 2011). Internalization refers to whether a person adopts ideals as a personal standard and the tendency to compare oneself to those ideals.

Student Perspectives: What impacts how you feel about your body?

Video Transcript

Other Factors Related to Body Image

An individual’s body image can also be influenced by other factors including:

• life events that significantly change the body, like getting a mastectomy, losing a limb, or losing an ability;
• bodily changes due to physical and other trauma as a result of war, torture, or accidents;
• life events that cause trauma, like a sexual assault;
• role-related pressures, like pressures placed on some dancers or athletes;
• gender identity when, for example, overall body image may be linked to body parts that remind the individual of their assigned sex; or
• cultural expectations which place varying degrees of emphasis on appearance, weight, or body shape and size, including pressures to gain or lose weight.

Weight has also been found to be associated with body image, but it’s unclear whether this is because of weight itself or external pressures and criticism directed at individuals due to larger appearance (Voelker, Reel & Greenleaf, 2015). Body appreciation and body dissatisfaction can exist regardless of weight.