Journal of Adolescence 2002, 25, 307–311doi:10.1006/yjado.472, available online at http://www.idealibrary.com on

Locus of control, television viewing, and eatingdisorder symptomatology in young females

GREGORY FOUTS AND KIMBERLEY VAUGHAN

The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of locus of control and televisionwatching (number of hours of television watched per week) on eating disordersymptomatology in girls between the ages 10–17 years. A 2� 2 factorial design wasemployed in which girls were identified either as (a) being higher or lower viewers oftelevision, and (b) having either an external or internal locus of control. Girls with anexternal locus of control had significantly greater eating disorder symptomatology thanthose with an internal locus of control. For girls watching higher amounts of television,those having an external locus of control had significantly greater eating disordersymptomatology than those having an internal locus of control.

r 2002 The Association for Professionals in Services for Adolescents.

Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved

Introduction

Virtually all adolescents in North America are exposed to ‘‘thinness’’ images and messages ontelevision. It is presumed that such exposure leads them to internalize the thinnessstereotype, form distorted constructions of their bodies, become dissatisfied with how theylook, and then engage in weight control behaviours which may lead to developing an eatingdisorder, e.g., anorexia nervosa, bulimia (Stice, 1994; Tiggemann and Pickering, 1996;Harrison and Cantor, 1997). However, only 1–5% of young women develop eating disorders(Hoek, 1993), despite being constantly bombarded by thinness stereotypes in the media.This suggests that some adolescents may be particularly susceptible to media messages, e.g.,those who already have negative body images or have weight/shape concerns (Levine andSmolak, 1996, 1998; Stice, 1998). The purpose of the present study was to examine theeffect of another variable, locus of control, that may predispose young females to developeating disorder symptomatology and how it may mediate the effect of watching tele-vision.

Individuals with an external locus of control believe that their lives are determined byoutside forces such as fate and other people (Frenkel et al., 1995) and appear to be overlyresponsive to external forces. Past research has found that women with an external locus ofcontrol over-estimate their body sizes and have greater dissatisfaction with their appearancesthan those with an internal locus of control (e.g., Adame and Johnson, 1989; Garner et al.,1976). Both anorexic and bulimic adults exhibit significantly greater external locus of controlthan non-eating disordered females (e.g. Rost et al., 1982). These studies suggest that havingan external locus of control may lead adult women to closely attend to external sources ofinformation about body image, internalize and compare these images with themselves, andbecome dissatisfied with their bodies. It is unknown whether this applies to young, non-clinical females.

Reprint requests and correspondence should be addressed to Gregory Fouts, Department of Psychology, Universityof Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 1N4 (E-mail: gfouts@ucalgary.ca).

0140-1971/02/$35�00+0�00 # 2002 The Association for Professionals in Services for Adolescents.Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved

308 G. Fouts and K. Vaughan

Several studies have shown that below average weight female characters on television areoverrepresented and receive reinforcement from male characters who make positivecomments about their thin bodies (e.g., Fouts and Burggraf, 1999). This combination ofmodelling and reinforcement associated with body weight may be especially powerful andlead impressionable viewers to internalize the thin stereotype and alter their behaviours in anattempt to conform to it. However, there is inconsistent evidence for this relationship inadult women (e.g., Harrison and Cantor, 1997). This may, in part, be due to adults having aninternal locus of control that buffers them from such exposure. It is possible, therefore, thatyounger females, who have greater external locus of control (Nowicki and Strickland, 1973),may be particularly vulnerable to the images and messages on television. Alternatively,having an internal locus of control may result in less attention to thinness stereotypes in themedia and less willingness (and perhaps resistance) to internalize these messages andunfavourably compare themselves with others. It is not known whether this applies to young,non-clinical females.

The present study assessed this by using a 2� 2 factorial design in which girls wereidentified either as being higher or lower viewers of television and having either an externalor internal locus of control. It was predicted that having an external locus of control wouldincrease their susceptibility to the thinness messages in their environment, thereby resultingin greater eating disorder symptomatology. For higher viewers of television, it was expectedthat those with an internal locus of control would be buffered against the exposure and,therefore, would have lower eating disorder symptomatology than those with an externallocus of control.

Method

ParticipantsOne hundred and eighty-nine females (10–17 years, M = 13?6) responded to advertisementsfor research participants in a study investigating ‘‘television viewing and food interests’’.Approximately 89% of the participants were White; socio-economic status was notascertained. BMI was randomly assessed in 53% of the sample (M = 20?8, S.D = 4?2); thesample was average for the age group (National Center for Health Statistics, U.S.A., 1994).The study was conducted in participants’ homes (parents were absent).

MeasuresA questionnaire assessed (in this order) TV viewing, eating disorder symptomatology, andlocus of control. TV viewing was assessed by asking participants to record the number ofhours they typically watched TV on each weekday and weekend day; these seven numberswere summed for the total number of hours watching TV in a week. It was assumed that thismeasure assessed the total exposure to thinness stereotypes on TV (e.g., in drama,commercials, situation comedies).

Eating disorder symptomatology was assessed using the Children’s Eating Attitude Test(ChEAT; Maloney et al., 1988). Two of the three subscales (dieting, oral control) wereemployed since these subscales are reliable and differentiate young females with/withouteating disorders. The response options were slightly modified from the original scales tosimplify the responses for younger participants; i.e., they responded on a 3-point Likert scale(no, sometimes, often) rather than the original 6-point scale. An eating disorder

TV and Locus of control 309

symptomatology score was calculated by summing across the 20 questions on the twosubscales. Locus of control was assessed by the Locus of Control Scale for Children (Nowickiand Strickland, 1973). This scale contains 22 questions that participants endorse ‘‘yes/no’’.Total scores can range from zero (very high internal locus) to 22 (very high external locus ofcontrol).

Results and Discussion

Participants watched television an average of 16?0 h per week (range = 2?5–48?0); locus ofcontrol scores averaged 8?2 (range = 1–19). The median for each measure was calculated(TV = 16, locus of control = 8); the participants were then cast into a 2 (lower, higher TVviewing)� 2 (internal, external locus of control) matrix. The number of participants in eachcell were lower TV/internal locus = 60, lower TV/external locus = 41, higher TV/internallocus = 34, and higher TV/external locus = 54. There was no significant relationshipbetween age and number of television viewing hours; both higher and lower TV viewinggroups were equated with respect to age. Eating disorder symptomatology scores ranged from22 to 54 (M = 32?9).

A television viewing � locus of control ANOVA on eating disorder symptomatologyscores (see Table 1) revealed a significant main effect of locus of control [F(1/188) = 5?04,p = 0?026]; i.e. girls with an external locus of control had greater eating disordersymptomatology than those with an internal locus of control. Having an external locus ofcontrol may result in greater attention to external models, many of whom are thin and intheir immediate environment (e.g., mothers, peers; Leon et al., 1994) as well in the media.They may also respond more readily to social pressures for thinness (e.g. Nagel and Jones,1992; Levine et al., 1994; Stice, 1994) as well as perceived pressures than those having aninternal locus of control. Thus, possessing an external locus of control may predispose youngfemales to internalize the pervasive thinness messages they receive and become dissatisfiedwith their bodies.

There was no significant (p40?10) main effect of television exposure, thus casting doubtupon a simple relationship between television exposure and eating disorder symptomatologyfor girls of this age. The television viewing � locus of control interaction was not significant(p40?10). It was expected that for higher viewers of television, those with an internal locusof control would have lower eating disorder symptomatology than those with an externallocus of control. Although there was no significant interaction, a preplanned test of theprediction was conducted. For those watching higher amounts of television (M = 23?7 h/week), girls with an internal locus of control had significantly lower eating disordersymptomatology than those with an external locus of control; F(1/87) = 5?42, p = 0?02.

Table 1 Mean eating disorder symptomatology scores for locus of control�TV viewing groups

Weekly TV viewing

Locus of control Lower levels Higher levels

Internal 32?5 30?4External 33?9 33?5

310 G. Fouts and K. Vaughan

There was no significant difference between the two groups for those watching loweramounts of television (M = 9?6 h/week). This finding suggests that having an internal locusof control may help young, non-clinical females resist television as a specific source of thethinness modelling. The weak evidence for the effect of television suggests that the greatersusceptibility to eating disorder symptomatology associated with an external locus of controlis likely due to more direct and powerful social influences (e.g., parents, peers) who are livemodels and who control the social reinforcements that many young females seek. The impactof television viewing may be considerably less than actual experience (Fouts and Click,1979).

The relative contributions of vicarious modelling of the thin ideal (e.g. television,magazines) and actual modelling (e.g., mother, siblings) in the a etiology of eating disordersymptomatology in young females are unknown; nor is it known how such modelling may bebuffered by having an internal locus of control and positive self-esteem. Longitudinalresearch (pre- to post-puberty) is currently being conducted to answer these questions.

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