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In response to this negative impact of Barbie not being found in the 7 1/2 to 8-1/2-year-old girls, the researchers admit that the finding was unanticipated and assert that, "For these older girls, if they have already internalized the thinness ideal, then the depiction of a full body could represent a possible, but feared, future self." (290) The study suitably used a control group and tried to eliminate biases in the picture books. Response formats, "smiley faces" and coloring in figures, were age appropriate and reduced possible interpretation issues.
The study is weak in several areas. The research sample is small, predominately white and middle class and comes from the same geographic region, causing one to wonder how much socio-economic factors play a role in the results of this study. it's not clear if the use of picture books rather than just dolls introduced bias into the study. Clearly, the researchers tried to emulate similar scenes for Barbie and Emme, but there are differences such as there as the use of an image of Barbie in the supermarket and Emme in a dress. The biggest flaw in the study is the interpretation of the results, particularly Emme, not Barbie, causing 7 1/2 to 8-1/2-year-old girls wanting to be thinner. Rather than admitting that this finding disputes that Barbie is to blame for negative effects on the body image, the researchers subjectively conclude that earlier exposure to Barbie must have caused future fears.
Nevertheless, this is an important study because there are few other experimental exposure studies that assess the impact of the sociocultural thinness ideal on very young girls.
It is ludicrous to assume that Barbie is the only factor that contributes to the body image of five- to eight-year-old girls. The results of the 7 1/2 to 8 1/2 age group illustrates that there are probably many other societal influences.
Yet, the results of the 5 1/2-6 1/2 and 6 1/2 -7-1/2-year-olds show that Barbie does have an impact. For this reason, this research by Dittmar, Halliwell, and Ive is important in studying the root cause of psychological problems in women such as low self-esteem and eating disorders.
In summary Barbie does have a negative impact on the body image of young girls, 5 1/2-6 1/2 and 6 1/2 -7 1/2 years old. However, by the time girls are 7 1/2 to 8 1/2 these same negative impacts are more influenced by size-16 Emme. Certainly, there are a lot of societal influences other than the dolls that are causing negative body images in young girls. More research is needed to determine what these are.
References
Dittmar, H., Halliwell, E., & Ive, S. (2006). Does Barbie Make Girls want to Be thin? The Effect of Experimental exposure to Images of Dolls on the Body Image of 5- to 8-year-old Girls. Developmental Psychology, 42, 283-292.
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