All subjects · Psychology · WPS04 Clinical Psychology and Psychological Skills

Contemporary study (anorexia option): Becker et al. (2002)

Edexcel IAL Psychology · WPS04 Clinical Psychology and Psychological Skills

Becker et al. (2002) is an anorexia option (8.2.5). It used the arrival of television in Fiji as a natural opportunity to study media influence on eating attitudes, supporting social learning explanations.

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Aims and design

Aims: to see whether prolonged exposure to television affected eating attitudes and behaviours in ethnic Fijian adolescent girls, in a culture that traditionally valued robust appetites and body shapes.

Setting: Nadroga, Fiji, where television arrived in 1995 and disordered eating was previously rare.

Design: a multi-wave cross-sectional study: different girls of the same age at the same schools were surveyed within weeks of TV arriving (1995, 63 girls, mean age 17.3) and after three years (1998, 65 girls, mean age 16.9).

Measures

Measure19951998
TV in household41.3%70.8%
EAT-26 score above 2012.7%29.2%
Self-induced vomiting for weight control0%11.3%
Bingeing7.9%4.6% (not significant)

Findings and evaluation

Evaluation

Worked example

Use Becker et al. (2002) to support social learning theory as an explanation of anorexia.

  1. After TV arrived, disordered eating indicators rose: EAT-26 above 20 from 12.7% to 29.2%, vomiting from 0% to 11.3%.
  2. Girls said they wanted to look like TV characters (identification) and linked thinness to success and careers (vicarious reinforcement).
  3. This matches SLT: attention to models, motivation from observed rewards, reproduction through dieting.
  4. But the design cannot rule out other social changes, so the support is suggestive rather than conclusive.

Answer: Increase in disordered eating plus interview evidence of imitation support SLT, with design caveats.

Key idea: Becker et al. (2002): Fijian girls before (1995, n = 63) and after (1998, n = 65) TV. EAT-26 above 20 rose from 12.7% to 29.2%; vomiting 0% to 11.3%; 83% said TV influenced body shape. Natural, mixed methods; but cross-sectional with confounds.

Check yourself

  1. Household TV ownership rose from 41.3% to 70.8%. What was the increase in percentage points? Give your answer to 1 decimal place.
    Show answer

    29.5 percentage points. 70.8 - 41.3 = 29.5.

  2. In 1998, 29.2% of 65 girls scored above 20 on the EAT-26. How many girls is that? Give a whole number.
    Show answer

    19 girls. 0.292 x 65 = 18.98, so 19 girls.

  3. What type of design did Becker et al. (2002) use?
    • A longitudinal study following the same girls
    • A laboratory experiment
    • A cross-sectional design comparing different girls in 1995 and 1998
    • A twin study
    Show answer

    A cross-sectional design comparing different girls in 1995 and 1998. Different samples in each wave.

  4. What does an EAT-26 score above 20 indicate?
    • A healthy diet
    • Disordered eating attitudes
    • High intelligence
    • Depression
    Show answer

    Disordered eating attitudes. It is a screening cut-off.

  5. How were the 1998 interview data analysed?
    • Spearman's rank
    • Wilcoxon test
    • Brain scanning
    • Thematic analysis
    Show answer

    Thematic analysis. Qualitative data were analysed for themes.

  6. Explain one strength of Becker et al.'s (2002) study.
    Show answer

    It was a natural experiment in a real community where TV had just arrived, so it has high ecological validity and could compare attitudes before and after exposure.. Natural setting, before and after comparison, mixed data.

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Sources

Last updated 8 November 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.