Exposure to Fashion Magazines and the Drive for Thinness : Adoration or Sense of Closeness?

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between exposure to women's fashion magazines and the drive for thinness among younger women, focusing on the specific context of Japanese society. In fact, such a correlation is well documented in a certain number of studies. However, most of these studies only give a broad picture of the situation and tend to simplistically present the drive for thinness among young women as a consequence of exposure to fashion magazines. As such, factors unique to Japan are not to be taken into account. In fact, Japan boasts a host of fashion magazines published with a degree of segmentation unseen elsewhere. Furthermore, magazines present models not only as being "adorable," but as "congenial" figures as well. This paper takes stock of the specificity and the variety of content found in Japanese fashion magazines, which also take advantage of the Internet. Our statistical analysis has revealed that how "adorable" a model was the biggest factor in influencing the drive for thinness, with "congeniality" playing a minor role. However, when the reading tendencies of respondents are utilized as a moderating variable, "congeniality" significantly comes into play with regard to the regular readers of a given magazine that is supported by the popularity of a particular model.