BCU Research Proposal: Media's Contribution to Eating Disorders

This research proposal investigates the contribution of media to the development of eating disorders, focusing on adolescent boys aged 18-23. It addresses the gap in existing literature, which primarily focuses on women and college students. The proposal outlines a cross-sectional study using convenience and snowball sampling methods to recruit 50 participants from four colleges. Data will be collected using the SCOFF assessment tool and a Likert scale to measure media exposure. Statistical analysis, including descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analysis, chi-square test, and logistic regression, will be employed to determine the association between media exposure and eating disorders. Ethical considerations, such as informed consent and privacy, are addressed. The expected outcome is a positive correlation between media use and the development of eating concerns among adolescent boys.

Running head: PROPOSAL
How does media contribute to the development of eating disorder?
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1PROPOSAL
Executive summary
Eating disorders commonly include binge eating, anorexia and bulimia that are manifested
when people demonstrate unhealthy eating habits. The research proposal identified the
impacts of exposure to social media, magazines, and websites on body dissatisfaction, body
image, and thin ideals. However, most of the previously conducted studies have focused on
women population. Hence, the proposal elaborated on a cross-sectional study that will be
conducted among boys aged between 18-23 years, in order to determine the impacts of media
exposure on the onset of eating disorders.

2PROPOSAL
Title
The impact of media on the development of eating disorder.
Literature review
There is mounting evidence for the fact that eating disorder refers to a mental illness
that is primarily characterised by eating behaviour that creates a negative impact on the
mental and/or physical health of individuals (American Psychiatric Association, 2015). Some
common eating disorders that have gained attention in recent years include binge eating
disorder, bulimia nervosa, anorexia nervosa, rumination disorder, and restrictive/avoidant
foot intake disorder. Although treatable, the impacts of these disorders are generally
detrimental, and have also been associated to death, if left untreated. Researchers have
established a correlation between these eating disorders and other conditions such as,
substance abuse, anxiety disorders, or depression (Mann et al., 2014). Previous literature by
Guðnadóttir and Garðarsdóttir (2014) was correct in stating that prevalence of a cultural
importance on thinness, which in turn is particularly predominant in the Western nations, acts
as a significant risk factor for the onset of eating disorders.
In addition, people often hold perceptions that are under the influence of external
pressure, which highlights the need for attaining an ideal body weight, commonly manifested
by the media in the form of body image dissatisfaction (van der Kaap‐Deeder et al., 2014).
Research studies have accurately elaborated on the impacts of pro-ana subculture that leads to
a promotion of behaviours that are related to anorexia nervosa. It has been found that there
are a range of websites that promote the onset of eating disorder by making the website
members feel that resorting to unhealthy eating habits will act effective in controlling their
chaotic life (Cobb, 2017).

3PROPOSAL
Several experimental and correlational studies have correctly confirmed the presence
of an association between exposure to thin body ideal in mass media, and subsequent
dissatisfaction related to body image, disordered eating, and thin ideal internalisation
(Fardouly et al., 2015). In addition, Tiggemann and Zaccardo (2015) were also correct in
highlighting the impacts of magazines on the concept that people (specifically women) have
regarding their body shape and image, with most of them wanting to lose body weight. It is
also a well-established fact that media often sends strong messages that make most viewers
infer that thin and able body individuals are more successful and desirable. Several millions
of money are annually spent on marketing of dietary products that create a barrier between
messages and images, thereby discouraging people from gaining self-satisfaction, and
subsequently encourage them to alter their body appearance and image. Furthermore, studies
that focus on determining the impacts of Facebook have also found that maladaptive usage of
social media, such as, equating self to another, is allied with larger messy eating and body
discontent among females (Kim & Chock, 2015).
Rationale
Majority of research that has tried to determine the link between media and eating
concerns have placed a focus on particular platforms like television, magazines, and social
media. In addition, most of the research investigations carried previously have focused on a
specific section of the population, commonly women and college students (Quick & Byrd-
Bredbenner, 2014). There is lack of adequate literature that has examined the impacts of
media on the development of eating disorders, among boys have not been diagnosed with the
condition previously. Hence, the primary objective of this research would be to explore if
there exists a relation between eating disorders and media.

4PROPOSAL
Research question
How does media contribute to the development of eating disorder?
Research hypothesis
 H1- More exposure to media will give rise to the onset of eating disorders among
adolescent boys.
 H0- Media exposure will not create any impacts on the onset of eating disorders
among adolescent boys.
Methodology
Sample
An estimated 50 boys will be selected from four colleges located across the district,
based on the method of convenience sampling. Use of this sampling technique will allow
participant selection based on their proximity and accessibility (Emerson, 2015). In addition,
snowballing will also be used for recruiting study subjects who are acquaintances of the
recruited sample. Participant selection will be based on the inclusion criteria namely (i) no
prior diagnosis of eating disorder, (ii) no other mental disorder, (iii) conversant in English
language, (iv) sound cognitive functioning, and (v) age between 18-23 years. Data collection
will be conducted over a period of three months.
Demographic detail
Relevant demographic information will be collected based on their age, race and
ethnicity, household income, educational attainment and living situation.
Data collection
The SCOFF assessment tool will be used for measuring the prevalence of eating
disorders amid the study subjects. This questionnaire comprises of five questions that would
facilitate determination of the presence of eating disorder based on the responses provided. In

5PROPOSAL
addition presence of two or more ‘yes’ response would confirm bulimia nervosa and anorexia
nervosa (Solmi et al., 2015). Exposure to media would also be analysed by using a likert
scale that would comprise of the frequency and number of fitness, health, beauty, fashion,
arts, entertainment television shows, magazines, and websites that they used.
Data analysis
Descriptive statistical analysis will be calculated for the independent variable (media
exposure) and the dependent variable (eating disorder). An exploratory factor analysis will be
conducted by using varimax rotation (Kolaczyk & Csárdi, 2014). In addition, chi-square test
will also be used for determining association between the variables. This will be followed by
conduction of a logistic regression analysis. Furthermore, sensitivity analyses will also be
conducted to assess robustness of the obtained results.
Ethical considerations
Owing to the fact that the research will involve human participants, there is a need to
maintain autonomy, dignity and privacy of the participants. All participants and their parents
shall be provided complete details on the potential advantages and risks of the study (if any),
following which they will be recruited only after informed consent has been obtained (BPS,
2014). Efforts will be taken not prevent disclosure of personal information to any third parties
during and after the research. In addition, the research will not involve any deception or
falsification of data.
Expected outcomes
It is expected that adolescent boys who demonstrate greater frequency of being
exposed to media will have an increased likelihood of developing eating concerns. It is
anticipated that there would be a positive correlation between media use and eating disorders.

6PROPOSAL
Timeline
Stages Jun
e
Jul
y
Augu
st
Septemb
er
Octobe
r
Novemb
er
Decemb
er
Januar
y
Research
question
formulation
Literature
review
Sample
recruitment
Data
collection
Data
analysis
Writing
report
Disseminati
on of
findings
Table 1- Timeline of the project

7PROPOSAL
References
American Psychiatric Association. (2015). Feeding and Eating Disorders: DSM-5®
Selections. American Psychiatric Pub.
British Psychological Society. (2014). Code of Human Research Ethics. Retrieved from
https://www.bps.org.uk/sites/bps.org.uk/files/Policy/Policy%20-%20Files/BPS
%20Code%20of%20Human%20Research%20Ethics.pdf
Cobb, G. (2017). “This is not pro-ana”: Denial and disguise in pro-anorexia online
spaces. Fat Studies, 6(2), 189-205.
Emerson, R. W. (2015). Convenience sampling, random sampling, and snowball sampling:
How does sampling affect the validity of research?. Journal of Visual Impairment &
Blindness, 109(2), 164-168.
Fardouly, J., Diedrichs, P. C., Vartanian, L. R., & Halliwell, E. (2015). Social comparisons
on social media: The impact of Facebook on young women's body image concerns
and mood. Body image, 13, 38-45.
Guðnadóttir, U., & Garðarsdóttir, R. B. (2014). The influence of materialism and ideal body
internalization on body‐dissatisfaction and body‐shaping behaviors of young men and
women: Support for the Consumer Culture Impact Model. Scandinavian Journal of
Psychology, 55(2), 151-159.
Kim, J. W., & Chock, T. M. (2015). Body image 2.0: Associations between social grooming
on Facebook and body image concerns. Computers in Human Behavior, 48, 331-339.
Kolaczyk, E. D., & Csárdi, G. (2014). Statistical analysis of network data with R (Vol. 65).
New York: Springer.

8PROPOSAL
Mann, A. P., Accurso, E. C., Stiles-Shields, C., Capra, L., Labuschagne, Z., Karnik, N. S., &
Le Grange, D. (2014). Factors associated with substance use in adolescents with
eating disorders. Journal of Adolescent Health, 55(2), 182-187.
Quick, V. M., & Byrd-Bredbenner, C. (2014). Disordered eating, socio-cultural media
influencers, body image, and psychological factors among a racially/ethnically
diverse population of college women. Eating behaviors, 15(1), 37-41.
Solmi, F., Hatch, S. L., Hotopf, M., Treasure, J., & Micali, N. (2015). Validation of the
SCOFF questionnaire for eating disorders in a multiethnic general population
sample. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 48(3), 312-316.
Tiggemann, M., & Zaccardo, M. (2015). “Exercise to be fit, not skinny”: The effect of
fitspiration imagery on women's body image. Body image, 15, 61-67.
van der Kaap‐Deeder, J., Vansteenkiste, M., Soenens, B., Verstuyf, J., Boone, L., & Smets, J.
(2014). Fostering self‐endorsed motivation to change in patients with an eating
disorder: The role of perceived autonomy support and psychological need
satisfaction. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 47(6), 585-600.