Mirror, mirror on the wall, who wants to be the thinnest of them all? The immediate effect of thin ideal exposure on food intake of overt and covert narcissistic girls

Abstract

Abstract This study experimentally tested the immediate effect of thin ideal media exposure on food intake of overt and covert narcissistic (pre-)adolescent girls (8-15 years old). A between subject design was used in which the girls (N = 400) participated in a taste test after watching a slideshow of thin, average or plus size models. No differences on food intake between the exposure conditions were found for both overt and covert narcissistic girls. Possibly the susceptibility for the thin ideal representations is more age specific, or compensation for food intake takes place by other means (e.g., exercising) than restrained eating. However, in this study it can be concluded that there is no immediate effect of thin ideal exposure on the intake of high caloric foods among overt and covert narcissistic girls.