Body image concern in relation to peer and media influence in adolescents

Pages: 659-663
Gurminder Sokhey and Ravijot Kaur (Department of Psychology, Punjabi University, Patiala, Punjab)

The present investigation aimed to study Body image concern in relation to Peer and Media influence in adolescents. The sample comprised 160 adolescents (Females=80, Males=80) in the age range of 15-19 years. They were randomly selected from various private schools and colleges of Patiala city and belonged to middle class families. The subjects were administered Revised Body Shape Questionnaire (Mazzeo, 1999), Peer Influence Scale (Mukai,1996) and Socio-cultural Attitude Towards Appearance Questionnaire (originally developed by Heinberg et al., 1995) to assess body image concern, peer influence and media influence respectively. Correlational Analysis of the data showed that body image concern was positively related with peer and media influence. Stepwise Multiple Regression Analysis revealed significant contribution of peer influence & media influence in explaining the variance in body image concern.