Testing a dissonance body image intervention among young girls

Halliwell, Emma; Diedrichs, Phillippa C.

Abstract

Objective: Body image and eating disorder interventions based on cognitive dissonance have been shown to be effective among girls and women aged 14 and above. This article reports a preliminary examination of whether a dissonance intervention is also effective when delivered in a school setting to 12- and 13-year-old girls in the United Kingdom Method: Girls (N =106, mean age =12.07 years, SD =.27) were allocated to the intervention condition or a waitlist control. Results: In contrast to the control group, girls in the intervention condition reported significant reductions in body dissatisfaction and internalization of a thin body ideal post-intervention. There was no significant change in self-reported dietary restraint for either condition. In addition, compared with the control group, girls in the intervention condition showed increased resilience to negative media effects 1-month post-intervention. Conclusions: Results suggests that dissonance based programs can reduce body dissatisfaction, internalization and negative media effects among a younger group of girls than previously examined and in an United Kingdom school setting. © 2013 American Psychological Association.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Feb 1, 2014
• Deposit Date: Mar 10, 2015
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 24, 2016
• Journal: Health Psychology
• Print ISSN: 0278-6133
• Electronic ISSN: 1930-7810
• Publisher: American Psychological Association
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 33
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 201-204
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/a0032585
• Keywords: cognitive-dissonance, interventions, body dissatisfaction, adolescent, girls, body image
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/821528
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0032585
• Contract Date: Feb 24, 2016