Effects On Female Body Image Peer

The negative body image may cause a series of problems for women, such as eating disorders, depression, self-esteem decreasing. It gets more and more attention because of its negative effect. What’s more it gradually becomes the hot topic in psychological research. In order to effectively prevent and control the negative effect that the negative body image brings it is necessary to elucidate its formation mechanism. Studies have shown that the media, peer and family factors are the most significant factors which influence the body image. Because the influence of media and family on body image is weaker than peer’s influence, the study treats the peer effect as the starting point. The study not only explores the peers influence on body image, but also explores the intermediary mechanism that contributes to our understanding of how peers influence body image. In fact, the mechanism is the moderators between peers influence and body image, which includes autonomy, appearance schemas and social comparison.Research on junior high school students, high school students, undergraduates and master students demonstrates a main effect for peers influence in different learning stages. Peers influence scores were lowest for junior high school students, with LSD post-hoc analysis finding significant differences with the high school students, undergraduates, master graduates. What’s more, LSD post-hoc analyses find that high school students’ peers influence scores is higher than undergraduates and master graduates. Results from the factorial ANOVA demonstrate a main effect for body image in different learning stages. Undergraduate students and the high school students’ negative body image are significantly higher than that of junior middle school students. The peers influence can significantly predict body image only for junior middle school students and undergraduates. Besides, the correlational study also found that social comparison moderates the effects of peers influence on body image.On the basis of the correlational study, a behavioral experiment whose subjects are master graduates is adopted. The experimental research shows a main effect for peers influence, with negative peers influence associated with higher negative body image and positive peers influence associated with lower negative body image. A significant interaction was found between peers influence and presence of a desirable male. When the desired male is present, the level of negative body image under the condition of negative peers influence is higher than that under the condition of positive peers influence significantly. However, when the desired man is absent, the level of negative body image has no significant difference between those two conditions. In the situation of positive peers influence the level of negative body image in the absence of the desired man is higher than that in the presence of the desired man. By contrast in the situation of negative peers influence the level of negative body image in the presence of the desired man is higher than that in the absence of the desired man significantly.In addition, the study assumes a model, which includes four variables, that is peers influence, body image, self esteem and eating. A structural equation analysis is used to validate and modify the model. The final correction model displays that peer factor influences body image, self-esteem and eating directly. Body image also has direct influences on body image and self-esteem. Besides, self-esteem can make predictions for the eating. Besides, correction model founds that the most of the variance of eating variable can be explained within the model of other factors. In other words, peers influence, body image and self-esteem are the main causes for the eating disorder.Finally, make a general discussion of the paper.