Annual of social work, Vol. 22 No. 3, 2015.
Review article
https://doi.org/10.3935/ljsr.v22i2.61
SOCIOCULTURAL FACTORS OF BODY DISSATISFACTION IN ADOLESCENCE
Inja Erceg Jugović
orcid.org/0000-0001-7321-1253
; Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
Body dissatisfaction, one of the aspects of body image, refers to a subjective negative body image and is especially prominent during adolescence, a period of many drastic body changes. The formation and development of body dissatisfaction is affected by a number of factors from various sources. The present work consists of an overview of the influence of the media, parents and peers of both sexes as strong sociocultural factors of body dissatisfaction. The social environment conditions and sets norms, ideals and standards of physical beauty and thus affects body perception and the formation of body dissatisfaction. The media, such as the press and the visual media, have considerable power in transferring sociocultural ideals and emphasising (non)desirable body characteristics. Even though they are powerful on their own, the media work in interaction with other sociocultural factors and may be enhanced by parents and peers. In adolescence, peers have a distinguished role in forming feelings and attitudes towards their adolescents body, and parents, even though they may be a strong source of social support, can also influence the development of concern regarding physical appearance. The findings about the strength of sociocultural effects on body dissatisfaction indicate the importance of developing prevention and intervention programmes with special emphasis on parental, peer and media influences as strong risk factors of body dissatisfaction.
Keywords
body image; body dissatisfaction; adolescence; media influence; parental influence; peer influence
Hrčak ID:
153763
URI
Publication date:
26.2.2016.
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