Video Game Magazines Influence Boy’s Body Ideals

EARTHtimes featured a study on how boys are influenced by exposure to video game magazines. University of Illinois researchers Professor Kristen Harrison and doctoral student Bradley Bond found that video game magazines that depict characters drawn with extreme muscularity increase some boys’ desire for muscle mass.

“In a nutshell, we found that exposure to video gaming magazines, which are immensely popular, increased boys’ subsequent drive for muscularity, more than exposure to other, more realistic ‘ideal-body’ magazines like sports, fashion and fitness,” Harrison said.

Their findings will be published in the journal Body Image this summer.