Can Body Image Education Programs Be Harmful to Adolescent Females?

Abstract

The aim of the study was to evaluate two body image education posters to determine whether such preventive strategies have any negative effects on the body image of adolescent females. Female school students ( N = 328) of mean age 14.4 ( SD = 1.8) years from six high schools evaluated two body image education posters using a questionnaire. Participants made suggestions for improving the posters and conducting future body image interventions. The posters were rated as not-beneficial by 28% of participants; 35% did not like the posters, and 69% did not want their own copy, the major reason being that self-comparison with the teenage models in the poster made them feel worse about themselves. The 5 Girls poster was rated lowest among older girls. Eight percent of girls did not know what message the posters were meant to portray and 8% received an incorrect or harmful message from the posters. This research suggests that educational initiatives to improve body image in adolescent girls may have negative effects. Planning of preventive interventions should involve program recipients and the educational materials should be pretested to prevent unintended and potentially harmful outcomes.