Media influence and body dissatisfaction in Brazilian female undergraduate students

The aim was to evaluate possible associations between media influence (internalization, pressure and information) on body satisfaction in a sample of Brazilian female undergraduate students. Sample consisted of female undergraduate from 37 institutions in Brazil who answered the Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire-SATAQ (n = 2,414) and the Stunkard's Silhouettes Scale (n = 2,402). A bivariate correlation among variables was performed, and also a covariance analysis with the SATAQ score and the body satisfaction categories. Linear multiple regression was done to evaluate the influence of variables in body dissatisfaction. Results show 64.4% of students desired to be smaller, 21.8% to be equal and 13.9% to be bigger than their actual figure. The group of students who desired to be smaller had the greatest SATAQ total and all the subscales scores. According with regression analyses, the body dissatisfaction increased 0.22 for each more Body Mass Index point; 0.02 for each more unit in SATAQ Internalization-General subscale; 0.03 for each more unit in SATAQ Pressure subscale. It was concluded that media influence and body dissatisfaction were related; in addition, media Internalization and Pressure predicted body dissatisfaction for this sample. The knowledge provide by these results is important for prevention strategies.