Internalization of the Thin Ideal, Media Images and Body Image Dissatisfaction in African American College Women: Implications for Black Female Sexuality

There is a need to understand how body image dissatisfaction influences African American women’s perception of self and sexuality. Using social comparison theory (Festinger, 1954), the current study investigated whether internalization of media images moderated the relationship between exposure to media images and body image. One hundred thirty-five African American college women were recruited. Pearson product moment correlations, standard and hierarchical regression analyses were conducted. Results indicate that internalization influences the relationship between media imagery and body image. More research is needed to investigate the correlation between media imagery and body image of African American women as well as levels of satisfaction/dissatisfaction. Implications for this research are discussed.