Effects of media exposure to beauty ideals on body image concerns among adolescent girls from brazilian origins living in Spain

Abstract

Treball de fi de màster Universitari en Comunicació Social

Tutora: Pilar Medina Bravo

Aiming at developing an empirical research during this student’s PhD dissertation, this Master’s degree final project proposes the grounds on which this future investigation is sustained. The latter has as general objective to further explore how media messages showcasing unattainable beauty ideals affect body image dissatisfaction of adolescent girls from Brazilian origins living in Spain. Since albeit there are researches analyzing media effects and body image, investigations/nfocusing on ethnic diverse groups and migrants are scarce. For the sake of achieving this goal, this project proposes: (1) a scoping review of the latest literature concerning this topic, published on significant academic databases; (2) a quantitative/ninvestigation harnessing previously developed scales (questionnaires), in order to measure degrees of acculturation and body dissatisfaction among a sample of the aforementioned group; (3) a qualitative research resorting to in-depth interview for the purpose of exploring this group’s body image and mass media’s beauty pressure towards a White ideal; notwithstanding the foregoing, (4) a content analysis of advertisements placed in 5 magazines, chosen by the girls themselves, in favor of unveiling what is the normatized beauty ideals.