The Impact of Body Emphasizing Video Games on Body Image ...

Sex Roles (2008) 59:586–601 587video games because the more modern video games allowthe players to create characters in great detail, includinghair color, eye color, face shape, hair style, height, weight,muscularity level, and so forth. Thus, in more recent videogames, players have the ability to create players that closelyresemble their actual or ideal appearance, which mayfurther the amount <strong>of</strong> immersion in the game.Two studies were conducted in order to determine ifplaying a video game that emphasized the male or femalebody would increase negative body-images in both maleand female participants. Both studies utilized similarmethodologies and sampled college-aged participants,who are especially at risk for eating disorders. Both studieshad participants complete baseline measures <strong>of</strong> how theythink and feel about their body, played a body-emphasizingvideo game for fifteen minutes, and then completed postgamebody image measures. Overall, it was predicted thatmales and females would feel worse about their body afterplaying these games because <strong>of</strong> the frequent depictions <strong>of</strong>muscular male and thin female characters.Negative <strong>Body</strong>-ImagesConsistent across various psychological disorders (such asanorexia nervosa, bulimia, and muscle dysmorphia) arenegative feelings about the body, or a negative body-image.For the purposes <strong>of</strong> the current research, the operationaldefinition <strong>of</strong> a negative body-image is “a way <strong>of</strong> thinkingand feeling about one’s body that negatively influences theperson’s self-esteem, body esteem, and body satisfaction(Barlett et al. 2005, pp 877).” Using this definition, researchhas shown that exposure to body emphasizing mass medianegatively impacts the viewer’s self-esteem, body esteem,and body satisfaction (Fawkner and McMurray 2002). Each<strong>of</strong> these three constructs is related to one another, butconceptualized differently. <strong>Body</strong> esteem is defined as theaffective, or feeling, component about the body (Franzoiand Shields 1984). <strong>Body</strong> satisfaction is the cognitivecomponent and is associated with negative thoughts aboutthe body (Baranowski et al. 2003). Finally, according toRosenberg (1965), self-esteem is defined as an overallfeeling <strong>of</strong> self-worth and happiness with your self. Selfesteemis not specifically isolated to self-worth about thebody, but research has shown that body esteem and bodysatisfaction are significantly correlated with self-esteem(Barlett et al. 2005), which suggests that happiness with thebody is just one portion <strong>of</strong> self-esteem.In addition to body esteem and body satisfaction, drivefor muscularity and positive attitudes towards muscularityare important variables for men. Ricciardelli and McCabe(2004) conceptualize the pursuit <strong>of</strong> muscularity as anybehaviors that are indicative <strong>of</strong> having a negative bodyimage, such as steroid usage. Thus, the drive for muscularityshould be related to body dissatisfaction after sociallycomparing with “ideal” media images. Positive attitudestowards muscularity is operationalized as thoughts andfeelings related to muscularity. One may have positiveattitudes towards muscularity and then subsequently takesteroids because thinking and feeling that muscles are goodmay subsequently influence social comparison processes.Research using both these scales (Hatoum and Belle 2004)found that positive attitudes toward muscularity and drivefor muscularity are both related to pressure from the massmedia to change one’s body.<strong>The</strong> extent to which one thinks and feels about theirbody and how one feels about their overall self-worth hasbeen shown to be linked to psychological and behavioralnegative outcomes. For example, research has shown thathaving a negative body-image is positively correlated withpsychological disorders, such as feelings <strong>of</strong> depression(Cafri et al. 2002) and anxiety (Tantleff-Dunn andThompson 2000). Having a negative body-image is alsorelated to various behavioral outcomes, such as excessivelyexercising (Ricciardelli et al. 2000), dieting (Hausenblasand Fallon 2002), and having a higher probability <strong>of</strong> usingsteroids (McCabe and Ricciardelli 2004). <strong>The</strong>se types <strong>of</strong>behaviors <strong>of</strong>ten lead to, or are related to, a variety <strong>of</strong> lifethreateningillnesses, such as eating disorders.Since negative body-images are related to serious psychologicaland behavioral actions, an important question is:Where do these negative body-images come from? <strong>The</strong>literature has shown that peers and family (Kearney-Cooke2002; Murray et al. 1995; Phares et al. 2004) are two importantsources <strong>of</strong> where individuals get a sense for howthey should think and feel about their body. Another source<strong>of</strong> negative body-image attainment is the mass media.Research has shown that a variety <strong>of</strong> mass media outletscan impact one’s body-image, including magazine pictures(Frederick et al. 2005) and television commercials (Sticeand Shaw 1994).Negative <strong>Body</strong>-Images in Females by the Mass Media<strong>The</strong> majority <strong>of</strong> work on negative body-images induced bythe mass media has used female samples, and research hasshown that after exposure to thin female models, womenhave more <strong>of</strong> a negative body-image and every component<strong>of</strong> a negative body-image is impacted. Specifically, researchhas shown that women will have lower body satisfaction(Hargreaves and Tiggeman 2002), body esteem (Ogden andMundray 1996), and self-esteem (Champion and Furnham1999) after viewing thin female models. Further, it has beenshown that after viewing thin female media depictions,women will have more eating disorder symptomatology(Stice and Shaw 1994) and anxiety (Lin and Kulik 2002).<strong>The</strong>se results are robust, as research has shown that these

588 Sex Roles (2008) 59:586–601effects are generalizable across multiple media formats,including celebrity pictures (King et al. 2000), televisionprograms (Stice and Shaw 1994), and even Barbie (Dittmaret al. 2006).Groesz et al. (2002) conducted a meta-analysis on howfemale participants felt about their body after beingexperimentally shown thin female models across multiplemedia formats (e.g., commercials, slides, and magazines).Results showed that across 43 effect size estimates femaleparticipants who were experimentally shown media <strong>of</strong> thinfemale models felt significantly worse about their bodiesthan those who were not exposed to such stimuli (d=−.31;negative values indicate a more negative body-image).Negative <strong>Body</strong>-Images in Males by the Mass MediaRecently, there has been a focus on how males respond tomass media images in relation to feelings and thoughtsabout their body. Unlike the stimulus that increasesnegative body-images in females, research has shown thatthe “ideal” body image for men is muscular and that malesare negatively impacted by muscular stimuli. Despite thedifference between men and women on what stimuliincreases their negative body-image, research has shownthat like women, men will have a decrease in their bodyesteem (Leit et al. 2002), body satisfaction (Agliata andTantleff-Dunn 2004), and self-esteem (Palladino andPritchard 2003) after viewing muscular stimuli in the massmedia. <strong>The</strong>se results are robust, as research has shown thattelevision commercials (Agliata and Tantleff-Dunn 2004),magazine pictures (Hausenblas et al. 2003; Humphreys andPaxton 2004), and even action figures (Barlett et al. 2005;Barlett et al. 2006) have this effect.Recently, two meta-analyses conducted by Barlett et al.(2008) found that across 93 effect size estimates, males whowere exposed to a muscular stimuli had a significantlyhigher negative body-image (d=−.20; negative valuesindicate more <strong>of</strong> a negative body-image). <strong>The</strong>se resultswere robust to which media format, how muscular the malestimuli was, and across the different constructs that makeup a negative body-image, including body satisfaction andbody esteem.<strong>The</strong>oretical Frameworks<strong>The</strong> tripartite influence model (Shr<strong>of</strong>f and Thompson 2006;Smolak et al. 2005) proposes that three socioculturalinfluences (parents, peers, and the mass media) are directlyrelated to body dissatisfaction. Once body dissatisfaction isincreased due to one (or more) <strong>of</strong> the aforementionedsociocultural influences, it is predicted that behavioraloutcomes (e.g., bulimia and steroid usage) will increase.Also, the three sociocultural factors also have an indirectlink to behavioral outcomes. Internalization <strong>of</strong> societalstandards and appearance comparison are both predicted tomediate this relationship. Thus, the reason why the massmedia negatively influences self-image is because peoplewill <strong>of</strong>ten compare their own body to the image they areviewing (appearance comparison process) or internalize thestandards <strong>of</strong> “beauty” that the stimuli represent. Overall,those who view appearance-related mass media are predictedto have lower body satisfaction and will comparetheir own body to these depictions. <strong>The</strong>n, either directly orindirectly (through the aforementioned mediated pathways),people will have an increase probability <strong>of</strong> performingbehavioral actions that reflect the consequences <strong>of</strong> feelingbad about one’s body (e.g., steroid usage, bulimia).Interestingly, this model does not make any predictionsabout positive attitudes toward muscularity. However, weconceptualized drive for muscularity to be similar tobehavioral intentions to engage in negative health relatedbehaviors (e.g., steroid usage), which is consistent withsimilar theoretical frameworks (Ricciardelli and McCabe2004).As the aforementioned description <strong>of</strong> the TripartiteInfluence Model states, there are no predictions made aboutthe role <strong>of</strong> personological variables that are related to howone thinks and feels about one’s body. For instance, thismodel does not posit that body mass index or the number <strong>of</strong>hours spent viewing the mass media moderates the overallrelationship. Thus, people who are fat, thin, tall, short,muscular, or non-muscular are all predicted to be influencedby the immediate exposure <strong>of</strong> “ideal” images in the massmedia. However, a model by Cafri et al. (2003) posits thatcertain biological factors (e.g., age, puberty timing)moderate the relationship between sociocultural factorsand body dissatisfaction. Thus, testing moderating variablesis important in the current study.Study 1Overview <strong>of</strong> the Current Study<strong>The</strong> purpose <strong>of</strong> the current study was to determine ifplaying a video game that emphasized the muscular malebody would increase negative body-images in males. Basedon the Tripartite Influence Model and the past literature, thefollowing hypotheses were derived:H1: <strong>The</strong>re will be a decrease in body esteem, bodysatisfaction, positive attitudes toward muscularity,and an increase in the pursuit <strong>of</strong> muscularity afterplaying a video game that emphasizes muscles.Specifically, this hypothesis is a test <strong>of</strong> the TripartiteInfluence Model and the past literature which has shown

590 Sex Roles (2008) 59:586–601character. This allowed for a higher degree <strong>of</strong> immersionbecause the character that the player is controlling wassupposed to have skin and facial features like the participant,have a similar height and weight as the participant, and evenhave the participant’s name as the characters name.Although this video game and video game system werenot the most modern at the time <strong>of</strong> the data collection, thisgame allowed for the optimal amount <strong>of</strong> experimentalcontrol, allowed the participants to create themselves as awrestler, and was a relatively simple game for theparticipants to play. Other modern video games and videogame systems did not allow for all <strong>of</strong> the aforementionedadvantages to be utilized.Questionnaires <strong>The</strong> first questionnaire was the <strong>Body</strong>Esteem Scale (Franzoi and Shields 1984), which was usedto assess state body esteem. This scale contains 35 items,however, only 33 are applicable to men. This measureutilized a 1 (have strong negative feelings) to 5 (have strongpositive feelings) Likert scale, with higher numbersindicating higher body esteem. <strong>The</strong> questions askedparticipants to respond to how they feel about certainparts <strong>of</strong> their body (i.e., biceps, arms) and certain behaviorsindicative <strong>of</strong> good physical stature (i.e., physicalcoordination, physical stamina). Franzoi and Shields(1984) factor analyzed the items on this scale and foundthat, for men, the items significantly loaded onto threefactors. <strong>The</strong> first is the Physical Attractiveness (PA)subscale, which contained 11 items, which assesses howphysically attractive participants feel about various parts <strong>of</strong>their body (e.g., face). <strong>The</strong> second subscale is the PhysicalCondition (PC) scale, which contains 13 items to assesshow participants feel about the parts <strong>of</strong> their body whichare related to being in good shape (e.g., appearance <strong>of</strong>stomach, health, weight). <strong>The</strong> final subscale is the Upper<strong>Body</strong> Strength (UBS) scale, which contains nine items toassess how participants feel about various parts <strong>of</strong> the bodythat are related to upper body strength (e.g., body build,muscular strength). <strong>The</strong> range <strong>of</strong> possible total scores onthe entire scale is 33–165. Reliability analyses showed thatthe BES was moderately reliable at baseline (α=.58) andreliable at time 2 (α=.89). It is predicted that the lowerreliability <strong>of</strong> the BES at baseline is a function <strong>of</strong> the unreliablePA subscale at baseline (α=−.07), while the other twosubscales were reliable (α PC =.89 and α UBS =.74). However,all <strong>of</strong> the subscales were reliable at time 2 (α PC =.86, α PA =.66,and α UBS =.86).<strong>The</strong> second measure was the Swansea MuscularityAttitudes Questionnaire (SMAQ; Edwards and Launder2000). This is a 20-item measure that assesses attitudestoward muscularity which uses a 1 (definitely) to 7(definitely not) Likert scale, with higher numbers indicatingpoorer attitudes toward muscularity. This is a state measureand the questions ask the participants to respond to avariety <strong>of</strong> items assessing how they think, feel, and wouldbehave in certain scenarios. For example, one item states, “Ifeel bad about my body when I do not feel very big ormuscular.” This scale is divided into two subscales, basedon the results from a factor analysis (Edwards and Launder2000). <strong>The</strong> first subscale is the Positive Attitudes towardMuscularity (PAM), which is a ten-item subscale. Anexample item includes, “Being muscular gives me confidence.”<strong>The</strong> second subscale is the Drive for Muscularity(DFM), which is a ten-item subscale. An example itemincludes, “I aim to further develop my physique.” <strong>The</strong> totalrange <strong>of</strong> possible scores on the entire scale is 20–140. Forthe purposes <strong>of</strong> the current study, both the PAM and DFMmeasured aspects <strong>of</strong> body satisfaction. Specifically, theDFM is similar to the drive for thinness in females and thePAM measures both thoughts and feelings about muscularity.Reliability analyses showed that the SMAQ had acceptablereliability at baseline (α=.94) and time 2 (α=.96).<strong>The</strong> PAM and the DFM had acceptable reliabilities at baseline(α PAM =.91 and α DFM =.89) and at time 2 (α PAM =.94and α DFM =.92).<strong>The</strong> third measure was the Male <strong>Body</strong> Image and EsteemScale (MBIES; Markunas et al. 2003), which measures thebody esteem in men. Unlike the BES, this scale assesseshow men feel about certain statements, which are related totheir body, rather than how an individual feels about certainbody parts or actions. One item reads, “I like to have mypicture taken.” This scale consists <strong>of</strong> 20 items that arescored on a 1 (not a characteristic) to 7 (extremecharacteristic) Likert scale, with higher scores beingindicative <strong>of</strong> higher body esteem. <strong>The</strong> total range possibleon this scale is 20–140.Past research which has used the MBIES (Barlett et al.2005) has treated the items on the MBIES as a statemeasure. However, closer examination <strong>of</strong> certain itemsrevealed that some <strong>of</strong> the items are assessing state and someare assessing trait male body esteem. <strong>The</strong> state items askquestions that could change as a function <strong>of</strong> exposure to astimulus. For instance, “I’m content with the way I look”can change as a function <strong>of</strong> exposure to a stimulus (e.g., amuscular model in a magazine). Other items were writtensuch that they should not change as a function <strong>of</strong> exposureto a stimulus, which suggests that some <strong>of</strong> the items asassessing trait body esteem. For example, one item read, “Igo to the gym enough so that the employees know me byname.” Independent <strong>of</strong> whether the participant just saw amuscular male model on a magazine or not, that should notaffect the extent to which people actively go the gymenough such that the employees know the participant byname. <strong>The</strong>refore, the MBIES was separated into twosubscales. <strong>The</strong> first was a state measure <strong>of</strong> male bodyesteem, which contained ten items, and the second was a

Sex Roles (2008) 59:586–601 591trait measure <strong>of</strong> male body esteem, which also containedten items. <strong>The</strong> Likert scale and interpretation <strong>of</strong> the resultsfrom each subscale are identical to the original MBIES.Reliability analyses showed that the MBIES (entire scale)had acceptable reliability at baseline (α=.88) and time 2(α=.91). When the MBIES was divided into the state andtrait portions, the results showed that both had acceptablereliabilities at baseline (α state =.79 and α trait =.87) and attime 2 (α state =.88 and α trait =.83).<strong>The</strong> fourth measure was a demographic questionnaire.This measure assessed demographic variables, such as age,year in school, and ethnicity. Also assessed was height andweight <strong>of</strong> the participants, which was used to calculate theirBMI, based <strong>of</strong>f <strong>of</strong> the National Institute <strong>of</strong> Health’s website(http://www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi/). Finally, amount <strong>of</strong>video game play was assessed by asking participants how<strong>of</strong>ten they played video games on every day <strong>of</strong> the week,on average. <strong>The</strong>se items were summed to get an assessment<strong>of</strong> how <strong>of</strong>ten the participants played video games weekly.<strong>The</strong> final questionnaire was a suspiciousness questionnaire.Due to the highly publicized nature <strong>of</strong> video gameeffects and the heavy emphasis on body image questions,two questions were asked to determine if the participantshad been told about the hypotheses <strong>of</strong> the current studyprior to being in the study, and if they were able to infer thepredictions <strong>of</strong> the current study based on the questionsasked on the scales. Analysis <strong>of</strong> this questionnaire revealednone <strong>of</strong> the participants knew the purposes <strong>of</strong> the currentstudy prior to being debriefed.ProcedureUpon completion <strong>of</strong> the informed consent and experimentalcredit slips, participants were randomly assigned to play thevideo game in either the muscular (n=27) or non-muscular(n=24) condition. Participants were given all baselinebody-image measures to complete by either a male orfemale research assistant. <strong>The</strong>se measures included theBES, SMAQ, and MBIES. Once these measures werecompleted, participants were then given an instruction sheetwhich informed them how to create a wrestler to resemblethe appearance <strong>of</strong> the participants. Specifically, this sheetinstructed participants to change a default looking wrestlerto have the same skin color, hair color, hair cut, facial hair,height, weight, face shape, and muscle mass as they have.After the basic bodily features were changed to resemblethe participant, the instruction sheet had participants dressthe character such that the character was not wearing a shirtand had short wrestling shorts on (exposing the character’sleg and upper torso). Finally, the participants wereinstructed to name the character their name in order to helpaid in the immersion the participants could feel fromcreating a character in the video game. During this timethe research assistant was present to answer questions andto time the length <strong>of</strong> time it took participants to create theircharacter. Results show that it took participants an average<strong>of</strong> 6.72 (SD=2.18) minutes to create their character. Also,the research assistant rated on a 1 (not at all) to 7(extremely) Likert scale how much the participant resembledthe video game character the participant created.Results showed that the participants, on average, were ableto create characters that looked like them (M=5.39,SD=.90), as the mean score was above the midpoint <strong>of</strong> thescale.After the participants created the character that resembledtheir appearance as closely as possible, they wereinstructed to play the wrestling game for the remainingamount <strong>of</strong> time (which added up to 15 min). Those in themuscular condition were to use their character to wrestle aresearcher-created computer controlled muscular wrestler.This wrestler was created to have the most muscular bodythat could be created in this game. Specifically, this wrestlerhad well-defined muscles and was wearing the same clothesas the participant’s character. All facial features (e.g., faceshape) did not differ from the default character. <strong>The</strong>participants used their character to wrestle the muscularcharacter until the 15-min time frame had past. Those in theobese condition were to use their character to wrestle aresearch-created computer controlled obese wrestler. Thiswrestler was created to have an obese physique, whichincluded a large stomach, not well-defined muscles, and fatthighs. Specifically, this character was obese and waswearing the same clothes as the participant’s character.<strong>The</strong> participants used their character to wrestle the nonmuscularcharacter until the fifteen-minute time frame hadelapsed.Once the fifteen minute <strong>of</strong> video game play past, theparticipants completed all time 2 measures. <strong>The</strong>se includedthe BES, MBIES, SMAQ, the demographic questionnaire,and a suspiciousness questionnaire. After completion <strong>of</strong>these measures, the participants were thanked and fullydebriefed. It is important to note that the video gameperformance was never measured. Since a male and femaleresearch assistant ran the study and interacted with theparticipants, analyses were conducted to determine if theirpresence influenced the overall results. T tests on alldependent variables showed that there was no significantdifference between the male and female research assistanton any <strong>of</strong> the variables.ResultsPrior to the main analyses, one note <strong>of</strong> caution is warranted.<strong>The</strong> results from the full 2 (time) × 3 (BMI) × 2 (videogame type) analysis <strong>of</strong> variance will not be presented orinterpreted for any significant NIH main effects or

592 Sex Roles (2008) 59:586–601interactions for any dependent variable. <strong>The</strong> distribution <strong>of</strong>participants was not equal across the cells in this design.Four participants were classified as obese, 18 wereclassified as overweight, and 29 were classified as normalweight, according to the NIH classification system. Accordingto Howell (2002), unequal cell sizes in a factorialdesign puts too much weight on too few participants, thuspossibly putting too much influence on the mean <strong>of</strong> thatcell, which can influence the omnibus F test. However, theresults from the overall analyses did show that NIHclassification system significantly interacted with factorson the SMAQ, DFM, and PAM and marginally interactedwith factors for the BES; thus it is inappropriate to take itout <strong>of</strong> the factorial design because this factor is needed inorder to get a better estimate <strong>of</strong> the population variance,which it must account for (Cohen and Cohen 1983).Finally, treating BMI as a covariate is not appropriatebecause it violates the assumptions <strong>of</strong> a covariate, namely itsignificantly and marginally interacts with the other factorsin the overall design (Howell 2002). Using these arguments,BMI was left in the factorial design, but anysignificant main effects or interactions with BMI shouldnot be interpreted.Correlation Between MeasuresCorrelations between all <strong>of</strong> the variables and their subscaleswere assessed (see Table 1). Results showed that theMBIES state and the MBIES trait measures were significantlycorrelated with the BES and its subscales (all ps.05). This suggests that the attitudesone has towards muscularity and the drive for muscularity isa separate construct from general and male body esteem.<strong>Body</strong> EsteemIn order to test the first hypothesis, which stated thatplaying a video game that emphasized muscular malebodies would decrease body esteem, a 2 (time) × 3 (BMI) ×2 (video game type) mixed analysis <strong>of</strong> variance (ANOVA)was conducted with the score from the BES as thedependent measure. <strong>The</strong> results show that there was asignificant main effect for time, F(1,45)=242.19, p

Sex Roles (2008) 59:586–601 593Table 2 Means and standard deviations for the questionnaires forstudy 1 using the 2 (time) × (3 BMI) × 2 (video game type) mixedANOVA for men.Scale Baseline Time 2 Endpointscondition had a decrease in their scores from baseline (M=48.37, SD=6.28) to time 2 (M=46.70, SD=6.80). Those inthe non-muscular condition had an increase in their scoresfrom baseline (M=44.71, SD=8.87) to time 2 (M=46.17,SD=7.06). <strong>The</strong> results from the remaining two subscalesyielded no significant main effects <strong>of</strong> interactions.A 2 (time) × 3 (BMI) × 2 (video game type) mixedANOVA was conducted with the scores from the traitsection <strong>of</strong> the MBIES as the dependent variable. <strong>The</strong> resultsshow that none <strong>of</strong> the main effects or interactions werestatistically significant, all Fs.05. <strong>The</strong>ANOVA using the state items showed a significant time Xvideo game type interaction, F(1,45)=4.97, p

594 Sex Roles (2008) 59:586–601not moderate the overall relationship between video gameplay and negative body images, the raw BMI scores wereused as the independent variable in a regression analysis inorder to determine if the BMI would account for asignificant portion <strong>of</strong> the variance in the dependentvariables at time 2. <strong>The</strong> results showed that the BMI didnot account for a significant portion <strong>of</strong> the variance in any<strong>of</strong> the dependent variables (all Fs.05). Thissuggests that the results from the main analyses are robustand independent <strong>of</strong> the BMI and that the bodies <strong>of</strong> thecharacters in the video games are very powerful, whichsupports the third hypothesis.Further regression analyses were conducted with theaverage video game play time per week as the independentvariable and the scores on the scales and subscales as thedependent variables in order to see if the amount <strong>of</strong> timespent playing video games accounted for a significantportion <strong>of</strong> the variance in these dependent variables. <strong>The</strong>results showed that the average video game play time perweek did not significantly account for significant portions<strong>of</strong> the variance in any <strong>of</strong> the dependent variables (all Fs.05). This suggests that the results from themain analyses are robust and independent <strong>of</strong> the videogame play habits <strong>of</strong> the participants, which supports thethird hypothesis.DiscussionOverall, the results from this study suggest that when maleparticipants played a video game that emphasized muscularmale bodies, they had an increase in their negative bodyimage.Specifically, these results showed that those whoplayed the video game, independent <strong>of</strong> condition, had adecrease in positive feelings toward their body, had a decreasein their general body esteem, had a decrease in their positiveattitudes toward muscularity, and had a decrease in the drivefor muscularity. This suggests that the participant’s affectiveand cognitive component <strong>of</strong> a negative body-image weresignificantly impacted by video game play. <strong>The</strong>se findingssupport our hypotheses as well as the theorizing.One finding that was interesting was that there was asignificant decrease in the drive for muscularity afterplaying the video game for those in the non-muscularcondition. Thus, after playing a video game that did not putas heavy an emphasis on muscles, males had a decrease inthe drive for muscularity. This suggests that not primingparticipants with all muscular images decreased theprobability <strong>of</strong> intending to engage in negative health relatedbehaviors. This is consistent with our theorizing about howmass media images impact the pursuit <strong>of</strong> muscularity(Ricciardelli and McCabe 2004) because less muscularexposure is related to fewer intentions to obtain thosemuscles.Also, those in the non-muscular condition had a decreasein positive attitudes toward muscularity. This finding is notconsistent with our hypotheses because it was predicted thatplaying a video game that contained all muscular characterswould be related to an increase in the positive attitudestoward muscularity. Thus, exposure to an obese wrestlerlowered body satisfaction compared to those who wereexposured to the muscular condition. <strong>The</strong> exact reason whythis effect was found is unknown; however several possibleexplanations exist. One possible reason is that one may notnecessarily expect an obese person to be as strong as thevideo game portrayed these characters to be. Thus, theparticipants may be thinking that the obese wrestler is nonmuscular,but can do complex wrestling moves that requiremuscles. Further, the participants may be thinking that theyare in better shape than the obese wrestler, but still cannotlift a person <strong>of</strong>f the floor, for example.. Another possibleexplanation is that the player’s character may have beenmuscular. It was rare that both characters were obese.<strong>The</strong>refore, all participants got exposed to some muscularcues in the video game, regardless <strong>of</strong> the body shape <strong>of</strong>their randomly assigned computer controlled opponent.Although these are plausible explanations, more work isneeded to specifically examine this effect.Study 2Overview <strong>of</strong> the Current Study<strong>The</strong> results from study 1 suggest that, after male participantsplayed a video game that emphasized the muscularmale body, they had a decrease in their body esteem andattitudes toward muscularity. <strong>The</strong> purpose <strong>of</strong> study 2 was todetermine if playing a video game that emphasized the thinfemale body would increase negative body-images infemale participants.Based on the past literature, the Tripartite InfluenceModel, and the results from Study 1, the followinghypotheses were derived:H1: <strong>The</strong>re will be a decrease in body esteem and bodysatisfaction after body emphasizing video game playfor females.H2: <strong>Body</strong> mass index and the number <strong>of</strong> hours spent playingvideo games will not moderate the overall relationshipbetween video game play and negative body- image.If confirmed, both hypotheses would replicate the resultsfrom study 1 by showing that both men and women will havemore <strong>of</strong> an increase in negative body-images after playing avideo game that emphasizes the body. Also, like study 1body mass index and the number <strong>of</strong> hours spent playingvideo games would not moderate the overall relationship.

Sex Roles (2008) 59:586–601 595<strong>The</strong> current study differed from study 1 in a number <strong>of</strong>regards. <strong>The</strong> first was that the video game had to be changedbecause the wrestling video game used in study 1 did notallow much exposure to the thin female body. <strong>The</strong> secondchange was that the female participants were not asked tomake a character look like them, because the results fromstudy 1 showed that this variable did not significantly impactthe results (via a regression analysis). <strong>The</strong> third change wasthat the measures <strong>of</strong> negative body-image were in study 1were specific to men. <strong>The</strong>refore, the current study usedmeasures specific to women. Overall, the statistical design <strong>of</strong>study 1 could not overlap with that <strong>of</strong> study 2 for a number <strong>of</strong>reasons. First, the game used did not allow the players or theresearchers to make characters. In fact, we had difficultyfinding any game that would allow us to manipulate a femalecharacter and still portray the female characters in such a wayto emphasize the body. Second, NIH classification did notneed to be treated as a between-subjects variable, like in study1 due to the lower overall sample size. Thus, NIH classificationand video type were not factors in the current study.MethodParticipantsThirty-two female participants from a large MidwesternUniversity participated in the current study. <strong>The</strong> averageage for this sample was 18.94 (SD=1.05) years, and themajority <strong>of</strong> the sample were Caucasian (81.3%) freshman(81.3%) undergraduate students. <strong>The</strong> average height <strong>of</strong> thissample was 5′2″ and the average weight was 130.47 lb.According to the National Institute <strong>of</strong> Health’s classification,the majority <strong>of</strong> the participants were classified as normalweight (n=26; 81.3%), while only four were classified asoverweight (12.5%), two were underweight (6.3%), and noparticipants were classified as obese. <strong>The</strong> average videogame play time for this sample was .87 (SD=2.47) hoursper week, and the range for this sample was 0.00 h and themaximum was 12.00 h per week.Materials<strong>Video</strong> game <strong>The</strong> video game selected for the current studywas Extreme Heat Beach Volleyball for the PlayStation 2video game system. This game was selected for a variety <strong>of</strong>reasons. <strong>The</strong> first is that the participants could select theircharacter based on how much they thought it resembledthem. <strong>The</strong> results from study 1 showed that the degree towhich the character looked like the participant did notsignificantly influence the results, and thus the currentgame and procedure did not have the female participantsmake such a character. <strong>The</strong> second reason that this gamewas selected was because all <strong>of</strong> the female characters hadsmall waists and wore only bikinis. This allowed for theparticipants to get the optimal exposure to the “ideal” bodyimage, which we predicted would be related to a negativebody-image. Also, after every five points were scored byeither team, all <strong>of</strong> the characters would change sides on thevolleyball court, and the game would zoom in on thefemales’ bending underneath the net, which further exposedtheir flat stomach and large breasts.This game was a two-on-two volleyball game. <strong>The</strong>participants selected one character and the computerselected the other three (one teammate and two opponents).<strong>The</strong> objective <strong>of</strong> this game was to beat the opposingcomputer team in a game <strong>of</strong> volleyball, which wasexplained to the participants. Standard beach volleyballrules were enforced in this game (e.g., only hitting the ballthree times before it has to go over the net).Questionnaires <strong>The</strong>re were four different questionnairesused in the current study. <strong>The</strong> first was the <strong>Body</strong> EsteemScale (BES; Franzoi and Shields 1984), which wasidentical to the one in study 1 and measured the affectivecomponent <strong>of</strong> a negative body-image. However, unlike thefirst study, research using the BES has found a differentfactor structure for the BES for women (Franzoi andShields 1984). Specifically, there were three factors. <strong>The</strong>first was sexual attractiveness (SA), which consisted <strong>of</strong> 13items. <strong>The</strong> second factor was weight concern (WC), whichconsisted <strong>of</strong> ten items. <strong>The</strong> final factor was physicalcondition (PC), which was identical for males andfemales. <strong>The</strong> scoring and interpreting <strong>of</strong> the scores wereidentical to that <strong>of</strong> study 1. <strong>The</strong> reliability for the <strong>Body</strong>Esteem Scale was acceptable at baseline (α=.95) and attime 2 (α=.95). Each subscale <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Body</strong> Esteem Scalehad acceptable reliability at both baseline and time 2.Specifically, the reliabilities for the Sexual Attractivenesssubscale (α=.90 for baseline and α=.91 for time 2), theWeight Concern subscale (α=.91 for baseline and α=.92for time 2), and the Physical Condition subscale (α=.80 forbaseline and α=.89 for time 2) were acceptable.<strong>The</strong> second questionnaire was the <strong>Body</strong> Shape Questionnaire(BSQ; Cooper et al. 1987), which measured bodysatisfaction, the cognitive component <strong>of</strong> a negative bodyimage.For the purposes <strong>of</strong> the current study, we used the24-item version, which asks participants to respond on a 1(never) to 6 (always) Likert scale to various concernsfemales have about their appearance. A sample itemincluded, “Have you become afraid that you might becomefat or fatter?” <strong>The</strong> items were summed together, such thathigher scores are indicative <strong>of</strong> more concern about theirweight and body. Hence, higher scores are indicative <strong>of</strong>lower body satisfaction. Reliability analyses showed thatthe <strong>Body</strong> Shape Questionnaire had acceptable reliability atbaseline (α=.95) and at time 2 (α=.98).

596 Sex Roles (2008) 59:586–601<strong>The</strong> third questionnaire was a demographic questionnaire,which was used to assess age, ethnicity, and year inschool. Also, this questionnaire assessed the height andweight <strong>of</strong> the sample, which was used to calculate theirBMI. Finally, the participant’s video game habits wereasked, by measuring how <strong>of</strong>ten they played video games inan average week, if they had played the video game before,and if they owned a video game system.<strong>The</strong> final questionnaire was a suspiciousness questionnaire.Due to the highly publicized nature <strong>of</strong> video gameeffects and the heavy emphasis on body image questions,two questions were asked to determine if the participantshad been told about the hypotheses <strong>of</strong> the current studyprior to being in the study, and if they were able to infer thepredictions <strong>of</strong> the current study based on the questionsasked on the scales. Analysis <strong>of</strong> this questionnaire revealedthat two (5.56%) <strong>of</strong> the participants knew the purposes <strong>of</strong>the current study prior to being debriefed, and these wereexcluded from further analyses.ProcedureUpon completion <strong>of</strong> the informed consent, participantscompleted baseline measures <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Body</strong> Esteem Scale andthe <strong>Body</strong> Shape Questionnaire. Participants then received abrief tutorial on how to play Extreme Heat Volleyball andwere asked to select their character. Specifically, participantswere asked to select a female character and selectwhich color <strong>of</strong> bathing suit the character was to have. Inorder to complete this task, the female participants wereforced to look at each character’s body and see which color<strong>of</strong> bathing suit looked good on them. All female characterswere very thin with large breasts and had the supermodellikeappearance. After the character selection was completed,participants played the video game for 15 min. Afterthat time frame had subsided, participants completed thepost-video game questionnaires, which consisted <strong>of</strong> the<strong>Body</strong> Esteem Scale, the <strong>Body</strong> Shape Questionnaire, ademographic questionnaire, and a suspiciousness questionnaire.After the final scale was completed, the participantswere thanked and fully debriefed. Since a male and femaleresearch assistant ran the study and interacted with theparticipants, analyses were conducted to determine if theirpresence influenced the overall results. T tests on all <strong>of</strong> thedependent variables showed that there was a statisticallysignificant difference between the male and female researchassistant for the Weight Concern subscale <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Body</strong>Esteem Scale, t(30)=2.13, p.80, all ps.40, all ps

Sex Roles (2008) 59:586–601 597satisfaction is significantly related to body esteem, weightconcerns, and being in good physical condition. Also, theseresults suggest that body satisfaction is not related to sexualattractiveness.<strong>Body</strong> EsteemIn order to test the first hypothesis, which stated thatplaying a video game that emphasized the “ideal” bodywould decrease body esteem, a one-way repeated measuresanalysis <strong>of</strong> variance (ANOVA) was conducted in order todetermine if there would be a change in body esteem frombaseline to after video game play. <strong>The</strong> results showed asignificant main effect for time, F(1,29)=4.92, p

598 Sex Roles (2008) 59:586–601cause negative body-images in male participants, and ifplaying a video game that emphasized the ideal femalebody would cause negative body-images in female participants.Across both studies, the results showed that afterplaying such video games male and female participants hada decrease in their body esteem. For men, this effect wasseen in the significant decrease in the BES scores and themarginal decrease in the MBIES state scores. For women,this was seen in the significant decrease in the BES scores.This results supports past research that shows men andwomen will have a significant decrease in body esteemafter viewing stimuli that emphasizes the ideal body foreach gender. Despite this similarity between men andwomen, the results also indicated that men had a decreasein their positive attitudes toward muscularity and their drivefor muscularity, which was operationally defined asindicative <strong>of</strong> body satisfaction. Females did not have adecrease in their body satisfaction. This conclusion shouldbe interpreted with a great deal <strong>of</strong> caution, because thequestionnaires used to assess body satisfaction in males andfemales were different.Interestingly, these results are independent <strong>of</strong> a number<strong>of</strong> measured or manipulated factors in these studies. First,and most important, the impact that video games have onthe body <strong>of</strong> those who play such games is consistent acrossgender, as both men and women are negatively affected byvideo games that emphasize the body. Second, these resultsare independent <strong>of</strong> the participant’s BMI. <strong>The</strong>refore, thebody type <strong>of</strong> the participant did not significantly moderatethe overall relationship between body-emphasizing videogame play and negative body-images. Third, these resultsare independent <strong>of</strong> how many hours the participants spendplaying video games during an average week. Thus, it canbe speculated that it is the immediate short-term exposureto these video game character’s body rather than long-termexposure to video games.<strong>The</strong>oretical Implications<strong>The</strong>oretically, this adds to the existing literature by showingthat yet another mass media format (video games) cancontribute to negative body-images in males and females.<strong>The</strong>se results support the Tripartite Influence Model(Smolak et al. 2005) and the Cafri et al. (2003) models byshowing that exposure to the mass media that emphasizesthe male and female body will increase various componentconstructs <strong>of</strong> negative body-images. However, resultsshowed that BMI and the amount <strong>of</strong> time spent playingvideo games did not moderate the overall effect betweenvideo game play and negative body image, which supportsthe Tripartite Influence Model. Both <strong>of</strong> these models statethat these negative body-images increase the probability <strong>of</strong>eating disorders in women and increased behaviors associatedwith the pursuit <strong>of</strong> muscularity (e.g., steroid usage) inmales.As previously stated, there has been research which hasused magazine pictures (Humphreys and Paxton 2004),television commercials (Agliata and Tantleff-Dunn 2004),and action figures (Barlett et al. 2005; Barlett et al. 2006) asa negative body-image inducing stimuli. <strong>The</strong>re has not beenany published research on the impact that video games haveon negative body-images. Determining which media formathas the most impact on negative body-image may be thefirst step to determine which format is the most harmful,which may help with negative body-image preventionprograms. Interestingly, Groesz et al. (2002) found thatthe media format did not significantly moderate the overallrelationship between media and negative body-images;however, this may be a function <strong>of</strong> the small number <strong>of</strong>studies for each media category. It is speculated that playinga video game that emphasizes the ideal body may have themost impact because video games <strong>of</strong>ten have an immersionfactor, which is defined by how involved the player can bein the game (Schneider et al. 2004). In other words, in avideo game the player typically assumes the role <strong>of</strong> themain character, which leads to a higher degree <strong>of</strong>immersion in that video game. If that character is amuscular male or thin female, then the player will assumethe role <strong>of</strong> that character, which may have explained theeffects <strong>of</strong> the current study. Future research should look todetermine if the amount <strong>of</strong> immersion is correlated withnegative body-image after body-emphasizing video gameplay, and if higher negative body-images are attained bydifferent types <strong>of</strong> mass media (e.g., video games versustelevision versus magazines).Limitations and Future ResearchDespite the results, there are some limitations <strong>of</strong> thisresearch. <strong>The</strong> first is that the samples in both studies didnot vary much on their BMI. In fact, using the NationalInstitute <strong>of</strong> Health’s classification system, there wereunequal cell sizes when BMI was used as a categoricalvariable making the results from such a classificationuninterpretable. Future research should sample participantswho have a wide variation in their BMI and determine ifvideo game play impacts everybody, independent <strong>of</strong> theirBMI.<strong>The</strong> second possible limitation is the inability to directlycompare males and females to see which gender is the mostimpacted by body-emphasizing video game play. <strong>The</strong>current study could not make such a comparison for manyreasons including: (a) different video games, (b) differentvideo game systems, and (c) different questionnaires. Ifcomparison between men and women needs to be done, thefirst two reasons are easily managed as long as an

Sex Roles (2008) 59:586–601 599appropriate video game can be found for the same videogame system. Perhaps more recent wrestling video gamesallow for participants to play as either a muscular malewrestler or a thin yet muscular female wrestler. ExtremeHeat Beach Volleyball has both muscular males and thinfemale characters, but the procedure <strong>of</strong> study 1 did notallow for this game to be used. Finally, because females aremost impacted by thin female models and males are mostimpacted by muscular male models, developing questionnairesthat can be applied to both males and females may bedifficult. Even the <strong>Body</strong> Esteem Scale, when given to malesand females, has a different factor structure when analyzed(Franzoi and Shields 1984). Future research should usequestionnaires that can be used by males and females, suchas the BISS (Cash et al. 2002), in order to make gendercomparisons to see who is the most impacted. Futureresearch should also include measures to assess otherpertinent variables, such as depression and body imageanxiety, as these are all relevant variables that could beimpacted by body-emphasizing video game play.Another limitation is that the participants completedbaseline and post-game measures <strong>of</strong> the same variables.This is a limitation because <strong>of</strong> practice effects <strong>of</strong> havingcompleted the measures twice. Future research should try touse multiple games and have the participants completebody image measures post-game play only. However, inorder to complete this, researchers need to make sure thatthe different video games are equally as fun, exciting,difficult, and both have human characters, but differ in howthe characters bodies are presented. For instance, a controlgame for the volleyball game used in study 2 would consist<strong>of</strong> only female characters that are fully clothed engaging insome competitive behavior while providing no informationto the player about body type.Performance (i.e., success or failure in the game) mayhave impacted self-image (i.e., feeling like a failure if onedoes not do well in the game), but was never assessed. Thisis a limitation because performance may predict bodyimagechange during video game play. Future researchshould test this assumption, by recording how well theparticipant does in their respective video game anddetermine if performance impacts body image variables.One final limitation is that study 1 did not haveparticipants rate how well they thought that the characterresembled their own appearance, as that was the participant’stask. <strong>The</strong> current study had the researchers codehow closely the character resembled the participant;however, we were unable to determine if the researcher’scodings closely resembled the participant’s codings.Future work should check for such a relationship, becausehow well the participant’s feel as though they resembledthe character may have been a better indicator <strong>of</strong>immersion.Overall Conclusions<strong>The</strong>re are many possible avenues for future research basedon the results from these studies. <strong>The</strong> first would be to testhigh versus low video game players in order to determine ifthere would be differences in the levels <strong>of</strong> immersion andhow these two groups <strong>of</strong> gamers differ from one another inhow they feel and think about their body after idealizedvideo game play. Future research should measure performanceto see if the success or failure in the video game wouldmake men and women feel like more <strong>of</strong> less <strong>of</strong> a man orwoman after playing and competing in video games. Suchperformance could mediate the overall relationship betweenvideo game play and a negative body-image.<strong>The</strong> scope <strong>of</strong> the current research was to investigate theshort-term, immediate, impact that body-emphasizing videogames had on male and female players. Thus, long-termconclusions cannot be made from the results <strong>of</strong> this study.However, research has shown that playing video games isrelated to changes in children’s personality only a fewmonths later (Anderson et al. 2007). Also, the TripartiteInfluence Model posits that constant exposure to socioculturalfactors are related to feeling worse about one’s body,rather than one single exposure. Given the high frequency<strong>of</strong> video game play by children <strong>of</strong> both sexes, playing suchgames for long periods <strong>of</strong> time may be related to negativethoughts and feelings about one’s body, which may berelated to negative behavioral outcomes.Men and women are both negatively impacted from themass media. <strong>The</strong> present study found that male and femaleparticipants, after playing a body-emphasizing video game,increased their negative body-image. This study is one <strong>of</strong>the few to study men and the findings add to the literatureon body image concerns in men. Also, this study adds tothe literature by investigating how video games caninfluence body image concerns in men and women, whichhas not been extensively studied. <strong>Video</strong> game players andparents <strong>of</strong> children who play video games should attempt tomonitor what video games are being played so they do notget a negative body-image. 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