IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v74y2012i10p1544-1551.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Picturing obesity: Analyzing the social epidemiology of obesity conveyed through US news media images

Author

Listed:
  • Gollust, Sarah E.
  • Eboh, Ijeoma
  • Barry, Colleen L.

Abstract

News media coverage can affect how Americans view health policy issues. While previous research has investigated the text content of news media coverage of obesity, these studies have tended to ignore the photographs and other images that accompany obesity-related news coverage. Images can convey important messages about which groups in society are more or less affected by a health problem, and, in turn, shape public understanding about the social epidemiology of that condition. In this study, we analyzed the images of overweight and obese individuals in Time and Newsweek coverage over a 25-year period (1984–2009), and compared these depictions, which we characterize as representing the “news media epidemiology” of obesity, to data describing the true national prevalence of obesity within key populations of interest over this period. Data collected included descriptive features of news stories and accompanying images, and demographic characteristics of individuals portrayed in images. Over the 25-year period, we found that news magazines increasingly depicted non-whites as overweight and obese, and showed overweight and obese individuals less often performing stereotypical behaviors. Even with increasing representation of non-whites over time, news magazines still underrepresented African Americans and Latinos. In addition, the elderly were starkly underrepresented in images of the overweight and obese compared to actual prevalence rates. Research in other policy arenas has linked media depictions of the populations affected by social problems with public support for policies to combat them. Further research is needed to understand how news media depictions can affect public stigma toward overweight and obese individuals and public support for obesity prevention efforts.

Suggested Citation

  • Gollust, Sarah E. & Eboh, Ijeoma & Barry, Colleen L., 2012. "Picturing obesity: Analyzing the social epidemiology of obesity conveyed through US news media images," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(10), pages 1544-1551.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:74:y:2012:i:10:p:1544-1551
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2012.01.021
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953612001372
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2012.01.021?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Schneider, Anne & Ingram, Helen, 1993. "Social Construction of Target Populations: Implications for Politics and Policy," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 87(2), pages 334-347, June.
    2. Aronowitz, Robert, 2008. "Framing disease: An underappreciated mechanism for the social patterning of health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(1), pages 1-9, July.
    3. Valentino, Nicholas A. & Hutchings, Vincent L. & White, Ismail K., 2002. "Cues that Matter: How Political Ads Prime Racial Attitudes During Campaigns," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 96(1), pages 75-90, March.
    4. Tim Groseclose & Jeffrey Milyo, 2005. "A Measure of Media Bias," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 120(4), pages 1191-1237.
    5. Elizabeth Rigby & Joe Soss & Bridget C. Booske & Angela M. K. Rohan & Stephanie A. Robert, 2009. "Public Responses to Health Disparities: How Group Cues Influence Support for Government Intervention," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 90(5), pages 1321-1340, December.
    6. repec:mpr:mprres:4231 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Greenberg, B.S. & Eastin, M. & Hofschire, L. & Lachlan, K. & Brownell, K.D., 2003. "Portrayals of Overweight and Obese Individuals on Commercial Television," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 93(8), pages 1342-1348.
    8. Committee on Prevention of Obesity in Children & Youth of which Robert C. Whitaker is a member, "undated". "Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance," Mathematica Policy Research Reports 655b9b55a39f4db1a879cc8bb, Mathematica Policy Research.
    9. Gilliam, Franklin D. Jr. & Valentino, Nicholas A. & Beckman, Matthew N., 2002. "Where You Live and What You Watch: The Impact of Racial Proximity and Local Television News on Attitudes about Race and Crime," Institute for Social Science Research, Working Paper Series qt7g05r6s4, Institute for Social Science Research, UCLA.
    10. Aronowitz, Robert, 2008. "Rejoinder to commentaries on "Framing disease: an underappreciated mechanism for the social patterning of health"," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(1), pages 20-22, July.
    11. Gollust, Sarah E. & Lantz, Paula M., 2009. "Communicating population health: Print news media coverage of type 2 diabetes," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(7), pages 1091-1098, October.
    12. Bayer, R. & Stuber, J., 2006. "Tobacco control, stigma, and public health: Rethinking the relations," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 96(1), pages 47-50.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Philippe Batifoulier & Louise Braddock & Victor Duchesne & Ariane Ghirardello & John Latsis, 2021. "Das Targeting von „Lifestyle“-Bedingungen. Welche Rechtfertigungen für die Behandlung? [“Targeting Lifestyle" Conditions: What Justifications for Treatment?]," Post-Print hal-03345323, HAL.
    2. Saguy, Abigail C. & Frederick, David & Gruys, Kjerstin, 2014. "Reporting risk, producing prejudice: How news reporting on obesity shapes attitudes about health risk, policy, and prejudice," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 125-133.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gollust, Sarah E. & Lantz, Paula M., 2009. "Communicating population health: Print news media coverage of type 2 diabetes," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(7), pages 1091-1098, October.
    2. Giovanni Facchini & Anna Maria Mayda & Riccardo Puglisi, 2017. "Illegal immigration and media exposure: evidence on individual attitudes," IZA Journal of Migration and Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 7(1), pages 1-36, December.
    3. Meershoek, Agnes & Krumeich, Anja & Vos, Rein, 2011. "The construction of ethnic differences in work incapacity risks: Analysing ordering practices of physicians in the Netherlands," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 72(1), pages 15-22, January.
    4. Lavanya Vijayasingham & Uma Jogulu & Pascale Allotey, 2018. "Enriching the Organizational Context of Chronic Illness Experience Through an Ethics of Care Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 153(1), pages 29-40, November.
    5. Hogan, Vijaya K. & de Araujo, Edna M. & Caldwell, Kia L. & Gonzalez-Nahm, Sarah N. & Black, Kristin Z., 2018. "“We black women have to kill a lion everyday”: An intersectional analysis of racism and social determinants of health in Brazil," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 199(C), pages 96-105.
    6. Jutel, Annemarie, 2010. "Framing disease: The example of female hypoactive sexual desire disorder," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 70(7), pages 1084-1090, April.
    7. Rodriguez, Javier M. & Geronimus, Arline T. & Bound, John & Dorling, Danny, 2015. "Black lives matter: Differential mortality and the racial composition of the U.S. electorate, 1970–2004," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 136, pages 193-199.
    8. Gross, Christiane & Schübel, Thomas & Hoffmann, Rasmus, 2015. "Picking up the pieces—Applying the DISEASE FILTER to health data," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 119(4), pages 549-557.
    9. Christine Holmberg & Erika A. Waters & Katie Whitehouse & Mary Daly & Worta McCaskill-Stevens, 2015. "My Lived Experiences Are More Important Than Your Probabilities," Medical Decision Making, , vol. 35(8), pages 1010-1022, November.
    10. Sekou Franklin, 2017. "The Politics of Race, Administrative Appeals, and Medicaid Disenrollment in Tennessee," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 6(1), pages 1-15, January.
    11. Epstein, Steven & Mamo, Laura, 2017. "The proliferation of sexual health: Diverse social problems and the legitimation of sexuality," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 188(C), pages 176-190.
    12. Maddison, Jonathan & Watts, Richard, 2011. "The technological fix as a frame in media debates about tailpipe emissions," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 294-303.
    13. Fritz Sager & Yvan Rielle, 2013. "Sorting through the garbage can: under what conditions do governments adopt policy programs?," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 46(1), pages 1-21, March.
    14. Bernhardt, Lea & Dewenter, Ralf & Thomas, Tobias, 2023. "Measuring partisan media bias in US newscasts from 2001 to 2012," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    15. Simon P. Anderson & John McLaren, 2012. "Media Mergers And Media Bias With Rational Consumers," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 10(4), pages 831-859, August.
    16. Bruch, Sarah K. & van der Naald, Joseph & Gornick, Janet C., 2022. "Poverty Reduction through Federal and State Policy Mechanisms: Variation Over Time and Across the U.S. States," SocArXiv jz5xp, Center for Open Science.
    17. Bennani, Hamza, 2018. "Media coverage and ECB policy-making: Evidence from an augmented Taylor rule," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 26-38.
    18. Dewenter, Ralf & Dulleck, Uwe & Thomas, Tobias, 2016. "Does the 4th estate deliver? Towards more direct measure of political media bias," Working Paper 175/2016, Helmut Schmidt University, Hamburg.
    19. Loh, Chung-Ping A. & Li, Qiang, 2013. "Peer effects in adolescent bodyweight: Evidence from rural China," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 35-44.
    20. Frank R. Baumgartner & Christine Mahoney, 2008. "Forum Section: The Two Faces of Framing," European Union Politics, , vol. 9(3), pages 435-449, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:74:y:2012:i:10:p:1544-1551. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.