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The countervailing effects of tv ownership on bmi and body image among women in eastern Ghana

Marianne Paul, McGill University

Overweight and obesity (OV/OB) rates are on the rise among Ghanaian women. According to the Ghana Demographic and Health Survey (GDHS), the percentage of childbearing women who are OV/OB increased from 25% in 2003 to almost 40% in 2014. Researchers suggest that rising rates of TV ownership and more hours spent watching TV may be contributing to these rising levels of OV/OB, because it encourages a more sedentary lifestyle (Ghose & Yaya, 2018; Tuoyire, 2018). Although TV ownership may be associated with greater OV/OB, it also works to influence cultural norms by facilitating the spread of western values such as a thinner body image ideals and distorted body image perceptions (Swami et al., 2010). To better understand these potentially complicated relationships, this paper will examine the association between TV ownership, BMI and body image measures in a cross-sectional sample of 865 Ghanaian women in eastern Ghana. Our regression analyses found that women who own TVs are significantly more likely to be OV/OB and are more likely to feel dissatisfied with their body image (p<0.05). Together, these results shed light on the complex and potentially countervailing influence of television exposure on women’s BMI and their body image preferences in Ghana.

Keywords: Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

See extended abstract.

  Presented in Session P10.