ArticleRevista brasileira de psiquiatria (Sao Paulo, Brazil : 1999)
Dysfunctional eating behaviors, anxiety, and depression in Italian boys and girls: the role of mass media.
Article in Revista brasileira de psiquiatria (Sao Paulo, Brazil : 1999). The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Exploring the role of modifiable sex/gender-specific risk and protective factors for anxiety among young people in high income countries: a systematic narrative review.BMC public health · 2026Pooled it
- Body image, self-esteem, emotion regulation, and eating disorders in adults: a systematic review.Neuropsychiatrie : Klinik, Diagnostik, Therapie und Rehabilitation : Organ der Gesellschaft Osterreichischer Nervenarzte und Psychiater · 2025Pooled it
- The relationship between screen-based sedentary behaviors and symptoms of depression and anxiety in youth: a systematic review of moderating variables.BMC public health · 2020Pooled it
- Social Media in Adolescents: A Retrospective Correlational Study on Addiction.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Validation of the Arabic version of the Eating Attitude Test in Lebanon: a population study.Public health nutrition · 2021Article
- Restrained eating in Lebanese adolescents: scale validation and correlates.BMC pediatrics · 2021Article
- Impact of the Mass Media on Adherence to the Mediterranean Diet, Psychological Well-Being and Physical Activity. Structural Equation Analysis.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- Bonding With Parents, Body Image, and Sociocultural Attitudes Toward Appearance as Predictors of Eating Disorders Among Young Girls.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2021Article
- Socio-Cultural Standards Promoted by the Mass Media as Predictors of Restrictive and Bulimic Behavior.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2020Article
- Article
- Body dissatisfaction in adolescent boys.Developmental psychology · 2019Article
- Exploring the Links Between Self-Compassion, Body Dissatisfaction, and Acceptance of Cosmetic Surgery in Young Italian Women.Frontiers in psychology · 2019Article
- Assessment of Family Functioning and Eating Disorders - The Mediating Role of Self-Esteem.Frontiers in psychology · 2019Article
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
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Abstract
objectiveExtensive research has implicated identification with characters in mass media in the emergence of disordered eating behavior in adolescents. We explored the possible influence of the models offered by television (TV) on adolescents' body image, body uneasiness, eating-disordered behavior, depression, and anxiety.
methodsThree hundred and one adolescents (aged 14-19) from southern Italy participated. They completed a questionnaire on media exposure and body dissatisfaction, the Eating Disorder Inventory-2, the Body Uneasiness Test, the Beck Depression Inventory, and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory - Form Y.
resultsThe main factors contributing to females' eating-disordered behaviors were their own desires to be similar to TV characters, the amount of reality and entertainment TV they watched, and the discrepancy between their perceptions of their bodies and those of TV characters. Friends' desire to be similar to TV characters contributed most to depression, anxiety, body uneasiness, and eating disorders for both males and females.
conclusionOur data confirm that extensive watching of reality and entertainment TV correlates with eating-disordered behavior among females. Moreover, the well-known negative effects of the media on adolescents' eating-disordered behaviors may also be indirectly transmitted by friends who share identification with TV characters.
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