Effects of Viewing a Pro-Ana Website: An Experimental Study on Body Satisfaction, Affect, and Appearance Self-Efficacy

M.J. Delforterie, J.K. Larsen, A. Bardone, R.H.J. Scholte

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Pro-anorexia websites portray an extreme form of thin-ideal. This between-subjects experiment examined the effects of viewing such a website on body satisfaction, affect, and appearance self-efficacy compared to viewing control websites (fashion, home decoration, automutilation). The sample consisted of 124 normal weight, young adult, Dutch women (mean age 21.2, mean body mass index 21.4). Participants did not differ on affect and appearance self-efficacy. One body satisfaction measure showed that pro-anorexia viewers were more satisfied with their bodies than home decoration viewers. Our findings suggest that viewing a pro-anorexia website might not have detrimental effects on body satisfaction and affect among normal weight young women. © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)321-336
JournalEating disorders
Volume22
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2014

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