The effect of simultaneous exercise and exposure to thin-ideal music videos on women's state self-objectification, mood and body satisfaction

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    Abstract

    The present study examined the simultaneous impact of thin-ideal music videos and exercise on state self-objectification, mood and body satisfaction, in order to assess whether exercise can ameliorate the usually found negative effects of appearance-focused media. One-hundred and eighty-four South Australian undergraduate women viewed appearance-focused or neutral music videos, with half in each condition simultaneously participating in a bout of exercise or in quiet rest. Participants completed pre- and post- state measures of mood, body satisfaction and self-objectification. As expected, exposure to appearance-focused music videos produced increased state self-objectification in comparison to neutral images. For body satisfaction, an interaction emerged for the dimension of physical attractiveness, whereby women who exercised and watched appearance-focused video clips felt more attractive than women watching the same clips who did not exercise, and felt no less attractive than women who watched neutral clips. The findings demonstrate that thin-ideal music videos serve to increase state self-objectification, but that exercise can ameliorate the negative effects of idealized media images on women's feelings of physical attractiveness.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)201-210
    Number of pages10
    JournalSex Roles
    Volume67
    Issue number3-4
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Aug 2012

    Keywords

    • Body image
    • Exercise
    • Media
    • Self-objectification
    • Thin ideal

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