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For Young Adults, Appearance Matters More than Health, MU Research Suggests from MU News Bureau on Vimeo.

Looking good appears to be more important than feeling good for college students. Well, according to a University of Missouri study, when it comes to college-age individuals taking care of their bodies, appearance is more important than health. 

The team of researchers studied how college-age women view their bodies and how they feel about media messages aimed at women. The said that during the focus group conversations, they learned that young people don't think about nutrition when it comes to eating, but instead think more about calorie-counting, which isn't necessarily related to a balanced diet.

The focus groups included college-age women, college-age men and mothers of college-age women, who discussed how body image is associated with engaging in restrictive diets, irregular sleep patterns and over-exercising.

"We receive so many conflicting media messages from news reports and advertising about how we should eat, how we should live and how we should look," Len-Ríos said. "Some participants said they realize images of models are digitally enhanced, but it doesn't necessarily keep them from wanting to achieve these unattainable figures-this is because they see how society rewards women for 'looking good.'"

The researchers also completed in-depth interviews with nutritional counselors who said lack of time and unhealthy food environments can keep college-age students from getting good nutrition.

"Eating well takes time, and, according to health professionals, college students are overscheduled and don't have enough time to cook something properly or might not know how to prepare something healthful," Len-Ríos said.

Researchers collaborated with Suzanne Burgoyne, a professor of theater, and made a play to help facilitate dialogues about nutrition, media messages and self-awareness.

"Body image is a sensitive topic, and the play helps open discussions about how individuals view themselves and how media messages influence their self-images," Burgoyne said. "An easy way to improve individuals' body images does not exist, but hopefully, the conversations that arise from the performances will help develop ways to counteract the images that the media promote."

MU student actors debuted the play last spring, and Burgoyne said performances will resume during the upcoming fall semester.

The study was presented earlier this month at the annual Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Conference in Chicago.