'What you look like is such a big factor': interviews with adolescent girls about the appearance culture in an all-girls' school

R.N. Carey; N. Donaghue; P. Broderick

doi:10.1177/0959353510369893

Back

'What you look like is such a big factor': interviews with adolescent girls about the appearance culture in an all-girls' school

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

'What you look like is such a big factor': interviews with adolescent girls about the appearance culture in an all-girls' school

R.N. Carey, N. Donaghue and P. Broderick

Feminism & Psychology, Vol.21(3), pp.299-316

2010

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0959353510369893

Files and links (2)

pdf

appearance_culture.pdf277.86 kBDownload View

Author’s Version Open Access

url

Link to Published Version *Subscription may be requiredView

Abstract

appearance culture

body image

dieting

peer influence

thin-ideal

High school is a key venue for the development and expression of body image concerns in adolescent girls. Researchers have begun to investigate the role of school-based ‘appearance cultures’ in magnifying the body image concerns of students. To date, however, no research has examined girls’ experience as participants within these cultures, and thus the opportunity to learn how girls account for the development and maintenance of these cultures has been missed. In interviews with nine girls attending an all-girls’ school, the existence of a strong ‘appearance culture’ in the school was identified as a major influence on the body image concerns of students. Girls talked about the ways in which appearance-focused conversations, dieting, and weight monitoring occurred as part of the everyday interaction with friends and peers at school. They also identified many ways in which their school attempted to address body image concerns, although these attempts were often portrayed as ineffective, if not counter-productive. These findings suggest that attempts to address the body image concerns of students will need to be sensitive to the lived reality of appearance cultures within schools.

Details

Title: 'What you look like is such a big factor': interviews with adolescent girls about the appearance culture in an all-girls' school
Authors/Creators: R.N. Carey (Author/Creator)
N. Donaghue (Author/Creator)
P. Broderick (Author/Creator)
Publication Details: Feminism & Psychology, Vol.21(3), pp.299-316
Publisher: Sage
Number of pages: 18
Identifiers: 991005543844407891
Copyright: The authors
Murdoch Affiliation: School of Psychology
Language: English
Resource Type: Journal article
Publisher URL: http://fap.sagepub.com/

UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This output has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

Source: InCites

Metrics

794 File views/ downloads

175 Record Views

36 Times Cited - Web of Science

InCites Highlights

These are selected metrics from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool, related to this output

Citation topics: 1 Clinical & Life Sciences; 1.44 Nutrition & Dietetics; 1.44.335 Eating Disorders
Web Of Science research areas: Psychology, Multidisciplinary; Women's Studies
ESI research areas: Psychiatry/Psychology