














































2019-CSWR_NewOrder.indd


COLUMBIA SOCIAL WORK REVIEW, VOL. X | 1 

DANCE FOR LIFE: USING A RESILIENCE MODEL 
TO FOSTER POSITIVE BODY IMAGE AND PREVENT 
BODY IMAGE DISSATISFACTION

CORA B. RICHTER AND KIMONE C. COLEY

INTRODUCTION 
A substantial majority of women—some 69–84% in the United States—

experience body image dissatisfaction (Runfola et al., 2013), often beginning 
from a young age. Body image dissatisfaction is an empirically supported 
predictor of maladaptive eating behaviors such as dieting, bulimic behaviors, 
and weight gain (Bucchianeri, Arikan, Hannan, Eisenberg, & Neumark-
Sztainer, 2013). It is also a risk factor for depression (Paxton, Neumark-
Sztainer, Hannan, & Eisenberg, 2006) and a mediator of the relationship 
between body mass index and self-esteem (Bucchianeri et al., 2013). 
Accordingly, there is an urgent need for preventative interventions and 
programs where girls can develop the resilience to maintain healthy body 
image. 

Body image dissatisfaction is reported at higher rates among females 
in middle adolescence than among other groups (Lawler & Nixon, 2011; 
Bearman, Presnell, Martinez, & Stice, 2006), and is argued to be the core 
component of self-esteem in this population (Levine & Smolak, 2002). 
Research points to the range of 11–14 years as being a critical age for 
intervention to promote body image resilience and prevent body image 
dissatisfaction. Gardner, Stark, Friedman, and Jackson (2000) found that 
body dissatisfaction1 and larger perceived body size predicted elevated 
eating disorder scores at age 11 and thinner ideal body sizes at age 12. 
Meanwhile, Rohde, Stice, and Marti (2015) found that body dissatisfaction, 
among other factors, was significantly predictive of eating disorders within 
four years at age 14. Moreover, body image concerns affect millions more 
women and girls than eating disorders do (Choate, 2005)—making body 
image dissatisfaction a public health concern unto itself and providing an 
opportunity for researchers and clinicians to positively impact the lives of 
a substantial swath of the American populace (Choate, 2005). In light of 
this research and the reality of continuing familial, peer, and media-related 
pressures toward thinness, this paper addresses the need for programs and 
practices that bolster body image resilience in middle-school-aged girls. 

This paper has four goals. First, it will review the evidence explaining 
the sociocultural rise of body image dissatisfaction in adolescent girls. 
Second, it will depict current evidence-based interventions that address 
body image dissatisfaction and aim to prevent eating disorders and other 
psychological issues. Third, this paper will identify Choate’s Body Image 
1 This paper will use “body image dissatisfaction” and “body dissatisfaction” interchange-
ably. 
 



2 | COLUMBIA SOCIAL WORK REVIEW, VOL. X 

BODY IMAGE RESILIENCE PROGRAM

Resilience Model (2005) as a strengths-based model that implicitly draws on 
sociocultural theories of body image dissatisfaction to help girls to develop 
positive body image—and in doing so, help them to understand and address 
body dissatisfaction—on an individual or community basis. Finally, and most 
importantly, this paper will propose a prevention-intervention program 
for developing body image resilience, grounded in Choate’s Body Image 
Resilience Model, engaging adolescent girls in dance movement therapy 
(DMT) and their families in discussion of body image issues. We posit that 
this should be a preferred intervention to address body image dissatisfaction 
in the target population in school- or community-based settings. It is argued 
that addressing body image dissatisfaction in this way could reduce the risk 
of development of maladaptive eating behaviors and other psychological 
symptoms.  

THE RISE OF BODY IMAGE DISSATISFACTION 
Given the negative effects of body image dissatisfaction, its 

causes should be explored. Multiple explanations for the rise of body 
dissatisfaction in adolescent populations have been proposed. For example, 
Vartanian and colleagues (2018) theorized a link between body image 
dissatisfaction and adverse life events, lower self-concept, and greater 
internalization of appearance. However, the primary explanation for body 
image dissatisfaction that has been tested in middle-school-aged girls is 
sociocultural. That is, body image dissatisfaction is associated with the 
dominant culture’s promoted imagery of the idealized thin and, at times, 
sexualized female body. 

Taking a sociocultural perspective, Thompson, Heinberg, Altabe, and 
Tantleff-Dunn (1999) propose a Tripartite Model of Influence in relation 
to body dissatisfaction, consisting of the media, peers, and parents. These 
three influences are mediated through internalization of the thin-ideal and 
appearance comparison processes. Keery, van den Berg, and Thompson 
(2004) tested this model on a sample of middle-school-aged girls. Keery 
et al. (2004) found a causative link between the media, peers, and parents’ 
influences and body image dissatisfaction in this population. In the case of 
parental influence, this relationship was fully mediated by internalization 
and appearance comparison. In the case of the media and peer influences, 
internalization and appearance comparison partially mediated the causative 
relationship. These results were replicated by Schroff and Thompson (2011) 
with a similar sample. 

Peers model appearance norms and play roles in formative 
conversations about appearance, including those about dieting (Jones, 2004; 
Schroff & Thompson, 2011). The frequency of these conversations about 
appearance is causatively linked to an increase in body image dissatisfaction, 
particularly in adolescent females (Clark & Tiggemann, 2006; Jones et al. 
2004). In addition, appearance-based teasing and criticism can also cause 



COLUMBIA SOCIAL WORK REVIEW, VOL. X | 3 

BODY IMAGE RESILIENCE PROGRAM

body dissatisfaction (Lawler & Nixon, 2011). Teasing and criticism are 
particularly influential because they apply the sociocultural ideal directly 
to the individual, which contributes to the process of internalization (Lawler 
& Nixon, 2011).

In relation to parents, it has been theorized that the family’s appearance-
related culture, that is, the way thinness, eating, and weight are addressed in 
family contexts, is linked to body image dissatisfaction (Kluck, 2010). The 
impact of parents is observed in multiple domains. First, comments about 
appearance and expressed attitudes about body size influence children. 
These comments are impactful regardless of whether they are made in 
relation to the specific child’s body in the form of criticism or teasing, or 
to bodies generally (Kluck, 2010). Second, parents may influence their 
children by modeling appearance-related behaviors such as dieting or 
preoccupation with weight and shape, or by encouraging their children to 
engage in these behaviors (Kluck, 2010). Research has shown that daughters 
who are encouraged to diet by their mothers are more likely to be dissatisfied 
with their bodies (Benedikt, Wertheim, & Love, 1998). In addition, body 
image dissatisfaction in mothers is linked to body image dissatisfaction in 
daughters (Kichler & Crowther, 2001). 

Within the Tripartite Model of Influence, the media is theorized to have 
the most influence on adolescent body image (Levine & Smolak, 1996). The 
media portrays an often unattainable standard of thinness (Hargreaves & 
Tiggemann, 2004). Studies show that the more adolescent girls are exposed 
to magazines and television, the higher their rates of body dissatisfaction 
are likely to be over time (Anderson, Huston, Schmitt, Linebarger, & Wright, 
2001; Bell & Dittmar, 2011). 

Outside of the traditional mass media, use of the internet is correlated 
to body image concerns, particularly when social networking sites are used 
(Tiggemann & Slater, 2013). Part of the reason that middle-school-aged girls 
are more at risk of body image dissatisfaction may be the amount of time 
they spend on social media sites and applications that contain images of 
celebrities, “influencers,” and peers portraying idealized body types (Perloff, 
2014). These images create “exponentially more opportunities for social 
comparison and dysfunctional surveillance of pictures of disliked body parts 
than were ever available with the conventional mass media” (Perloff, 2014, p. 
366). Essentially, the use of social media by middle-school-aged girls means 
social comparisons can be made quickly, easily, and against multiple sources 
(Myers & Crowther, 2009). That is, social media amplifies the thin-ideal 
that existed already in the dominant culture and that had been created, in 
part, by mass media. The role of social media in exacerbating the body image 
dissatisfaction problem underscores the need for proactive efforts to build 
girls’ body self-esteem—because their social media use seems only to be 
rising (Anderson & Jiang, 2018). 



4 | COLUMBIA SOCIAL WORK REVIEW, VOL. X 

BODY IMAGE RESILIENCE PROGRAM

CURRENT APPROACHES TO PREVENTION  
AND INTERVENTION 

Programs aiming to address body image dissatisfaction in adolescents 
are targeted (focused on those at risk of disordered eating or other adverse 
outcomes due to high levels of body dissatisfaction), selective (focusing on 
demographically high-risk populations such as adolescents or girls), or more 
universal (applied generally to non-symptomatic participants) (Neumark-
Sztainer et al., 2006). In a meta-analysis of published prevention trials, 
it was found that targeted interventions tend to be more effective than 
universal interventions (Stice, Shaw, & Marti, 2007). Interventions that are 
interactive and delivered in multiple sessions also have a stronger evidence 
base (Stice et al., 2007).  

In the domain of targeted and selective interventions, cognitive 
behavioral programs, psychoeducation, and dissonance reduction have 
proven effective (Levine & Smolak, 2006). However, a review of these 
interventions revealed that, in populations exhibiting body image concerns, 
the balance of the evidence supports interventions targeting cognitive 
dissonance (Stice, Shaw, Burton, & Wade, 2006).  This approach takes a 
sociocultural perspective. Dissonance reduction interventions require 
adolescent girls to critique negative body image beliefs acquired from peer, 
familial, and media influences through involvement with verbal, written, and 
behavioral exercises (Stice, Rohde, Gau, & Shaw, 2009). These techniques 
have resulted in reduction in thin-ideal internalization, body dissatisfaction, 
dieting attempts, and eating disorder symptoms, persisting through 
1-year follow-up (Stice et al., 2009). The evidence supporting dissonance 
reduction interventions has led to these approaches being labeled the “gold 
standard” prevention approach, which targets the Tripartite Influence 
Model (Atkinson & Wade, 2015). Meta-analysis reveals that dissonance 
interventions are one of only two prevention approaches proven to reduce 
risk of development of eating disorder pathology at 3-year follow-up (the 
other being an intervention focused on maintaining healthy weight and not 
specifically targeting body image dissatisfaction) (Stice, Becker, & Yokum, 
2013).   

Because of the proven effectiveness of dissonance reduction 
interventions in targeted populations, it is useful to consider whether 
this approach could be taken in a universal sample. In a randomized 
controlled trial, Atkinson and Wade (2015) compared dissonance reduction 
interventions to a mindfulness approach in a sample of adolescent girls. 
Importantly, the study was applied to a universal sample, containing 
participants of all levels of body image concern. The mindfulness approach 
aimed to address sociocultural factors by teaching participants to refrain 
from automatically responding to the thin-ideal, while simultaneously 
reducing the impact of negative affect. Negative affect is a risk factor for 
eating-related dysfunction, thought to coexist with body dissatisfaction 



COLUMBIA SOCIAL WORK REVIEW, VOL. X | 5 

BODY IMAGE RESILIENCE PROGRAM

(Atkinson & Wade, 2015).  Mindfulness interventions resulted in 
significant reductions in weight/shape concerns, dietary restraint, 
thin-ideal internalization, eating disorder symptoms, and psychosocial 
impairment, when delivered by optimally trained facilitators. However, 
no significant difference was observed between the group receiving the 
mindfulness intervention and the group receiving the dissonance reduction 
intervention. The study indicates that both mindfulness and dissonance-
based interventions can be helpful in reducing body dissatisfaction in a 
universal sample of adolescent girls (Atkinson & Wade, 2015).   

INDIVIDUAL PROTECTIVE FACTORS:  
A STRENGTHS-BASED MODEL

While most researchers have chosen to focus on the risk factors for 
body image problems (as well as risk factors for clinically diagnosable eating 
disorders), a few have identified those strengths that allow women and girls 
to maintain a healthy body image. We will pair the conceptualization of body 
image issues and interventions found in existing research with Choate’s 
(2005) breakdown of risk factors and protective factors for body image 
challenges in order to move toward an intervention that can be used by 
educators, social workers, and other concerned professionals in both clinical 
and nonclinical settings. 

Choate (2005) acknowledges that women and girls experience pressures 
as a result of comparison to media representations and their peers. Yet she 
does not find that all groups encounter these pressures to the same degree or 
in the same way. While acknowledging that eating disorder and body image 
dissatisfaction rates do not differ substantially among Asian, Hispanic, 
and White Americans according to many studies, she points to the African 
American community as one in which women are “buffered” somewhat from 
the pressure to have an extremely thin physique (Choate, 2005).2

Warren, Gleaves, Cepeda-Benito, Fernandez, and Rodriguez-Ruiz 
(2005) point to a possible psychological pathway for such a buffering effect, 
at least among their Mexican American and Spanish study participants. 
They identify the adoption of Westernized, thinness-idealizing culture 
and media as having two components: awareness of the thinness ideals 
and internalization of those ideals, where internalization is expressed 
through endorsement and emulation (Warren et al., 2005). They suggest that 
ethnicity mediates the latter component. Mexican American and Spanish 
women were found to be significantly less likely to internalize the thin-
2 Research published since Laura Hensley Choate developed her theorization of body image 
resilience has complicated the narrative somewhat. New studies have found that rates of 
eating disorders among African Americans do not differ substantially from other groups, 
or that different groups are prone to different types of eating disorders. See Smink, van 
Hoeken, & Hoek (2012) for a discussion of general epidemiology between different groups; 
Shuttlesworth & Zotter (2011) for a discussion of possibly higher binge eating disorder rates 
among African Americans; Hoek (2016) for a cross-national perspective and review of the 
literature; and Watson et al. (2013) for a discussion of how Black women still internalize the 
expectations of the dominant White culture despite having some distance from it.



6 | COLUMBIA SOCIAL WORK REVIEW, VOL. X 

BODY IMAGE RESILIENCE PROGRAM

ideal, and in turn significantly less likely to experience body dissatisfaction 
(Warren et al., 2005).  

Psychological pathways are complemented by sociological ones. Non-
White or non-northern-European-descent groups’ position outside the 
dominant White culture is understood to give these groups the ability to 
more critically evaluate media containing White standards of beauty and 
to develop their own standards of beauty (Choate, 2005). Family, peer, and 
community relationships (especially those between mothers and daughters) 
reinforce the deviations from the dominant culture and facilitate girls’ 
sense of self-esteem, strength, and independence (Choate, 2005; Parker et 
al., 1995). The curse of marginalization and racism would seem to have the 
positive collateral effect of allowing communities to develop or maintain 
their own norms, insights, and practices that can be healthier than those of 
the dominant culture.

Choate ultimately identifies “(a) family-of-origin support, (b) gender 
role satisfaction, (c) positive physical self-concept, (d) effective coping 
strategies, and (e) sense of holistic balance and wellness” as the key 
protective factors for body image resilience in women and girls (Choate, 
2005, p. 325). Snapp, Choate, and Ryu (2012) measured the efficacy of a 
version of Choate’s Body Image Resilience Model in a survey study of 301 
first-year college females. They found marginal or moderate, but mostly 
statistically significant, correlations between the different protective 
factors and “overall wellness,” which they measured using Adams et al.’s 
(1997) Perceived Wellness Survey (Snapp et al., 2012). In turn, they found 
a .31 positive correlation between wellness and body image, which was 
measured using the Body-Esteem (BE)-Appearance Subscale of the BE Scale 
for Adolescents and Adults (Snapp et al. 2012; see Mendelson et al., 2001, 
for the Body-Esteem (BE)-Appearance Subscale). 

Other researchers have individually identified the efficacy of each of 
Choate’s (2005) protective factors (if not necessarily with reference to 
Choate). Barker and Galambos (2003) confirm the importance of family 
support. Other researchers refer to self-esteem (O’Dea, 2010), various 
forms of physical and holistic wellbeing (Shisslak & Crago, 2001); and self-
efficacy as protective factors (Shisslak & Crago, 2011; see also Pelletier, 
Dion, & Lévesque, 2004, who refer specifically to the importance of self-
determination as a protective factor against media). Given this broad base of 
support for Choate’s Body Image Resilience Model, this paper will use it as 
a touchstone for designing and evaluating the DMT intervention developed 
therein.  



COLUMBIA SOCIAL WORK REVIEW, VOL. X | 7 

BODY IMAGE RESILIENCE PROGRAM

DANCE FOR LIFE: A STRENGTHS-BASED INTERVENTION 
FOR BODY IMAGE RESILIENCE

While Atkinson and Wade (2015), among others, have considered 
empirically supported interventions to address body image dissatisfaction, 
their approaches are nonetheless limited in that they fail to adequately 
incorporate protective factors. We propose a program of school- or 
community-based Dance Movement Therapy (DMT) that could serve 
both as a intervention for adolescent girls with body image issues and as 
a preventative measure for those who do not currently have body image 
issues but are at risk due to age or demographic factors. Given that parents 
play a crucial role in their daughters’ body image satisfaction levels, per 
the Tripartite Model of Influence, Dance for Life would also ideally involve 
families in a discussion of body image, paired with the DMT sessions and/
or recitals. And while the program would largely shift away from the risk-
factors focus of past treatments and toward a strengths-based model, it 
would also adopt some of the empirically supported, transferable qualities 
of past interventions, especially the quality of it occurring over multiple 
sessions (see Stice et al., 2007). We call this program “Dance for Life.”

Dance Movement Therapy (DMT) modalities have been used since at 
least the 1950s (Berrol, 1990). While the pairing of DMT with Choate’s Body 
Image Resilience Model is new, the idea that various forms of physical activity 
can promote positive body image is not. Versions of the idea appear in many 
conceptual articles and small-scale studies. Choate (2005) herself describes 
exercise and athleticism as promoting the physical self-concept that in turn 
promotes healthy body image in her model. Pylvänäinen (2003) proposes a 
model for understanding body image in the context of dance/movement therapy. 
Lewis and Scannell (1995) find a positive relationship between experience 
with “creative dance movement” and approval of one’s body among 112 study 
participants. In a meta-analysis of the literature on dance and movement 
therapies, Ritter and Graff Low (1996) describe some positive associations 
between the therapies and body awareness and acceptance. 

DMT modalities typically include music, movement, and sensory 
stimulation (Welling, 2014). They can take the form of free-flowing modern 
dance or expressive, unspecific motion used as nonverbal communication 
or the basis of a therapeutic alliance (Meekums, 1992). Dance movement 
therapists adjust the styles and exercises to the group or individual being 
served (Welling, 2014).3

Figure 1 contains the Program Logic Model (PLM) for Dance for 
Life. The PLM serves as a visual aid to map out the program intervention, 
addresses the need for the development of the program, and illustrates 
program inputs (i.e. treatments) in relation to desired outcomes for the 
participants.  

3 For a comprehensive description of traditional DMT, please see Payne ed. (1992). See Ha-
gensen (2015) and Green and Drewes eds. (2014) for DMT with adolescents.



8 | COLUMBIA SOCIAL WORK REVIEW, VOL. X 

BODY IMAGE RESILIENCE PROGRAM

Figure 1.
Program Logic Model for the Dance For Life Program
Brief Program Description: School- or community-based dance 
movement program for girls to promote healthful body self-reflection. This 
program would aim to engage girls to promote healthy physical expression 
of self and self-love, per the process described by Choate’s Body Image 
Resilience Model and the tenets of DMT. 
Problem/Need: Girls could benefit from implementation of a positive 
youth-development program to help mitigate the risk of social, emotional, 
and psychological decline associated with body image dissatisfaction.
Goals: Tackling sociocultural influences on body image dissatisfaction and 
promoting body image resilience.
Objectives: Using the activity-based youth development program of 
dancing, groups, and family support to build body image resilience.

Inputs Outputs Outcomes 
Impact

Group 
Counselors or 
Volunteers
Available space 
for activities
Curricula and/
or prompts for 
dance therapy 
sessions and 
family discussion 
groups
Screening tools 
for assessments
Funding source

Providers
Social workers
Volunteer 
and Group 
counselors to 
facilitate Dance 
Movement 
Therapy (DMT) 
groups

Participants
Adolescent girls 
and their families

Improved health 
and wellness
Reduction in 
body image 
dissatisfaction
Familial 
support for and 
engagement 
with positive 
body image and 
general wellness

 While dance as a practice allows people to express themselves through 
healthy movement, Dance for Life as a program goes one step further 
and allows adolescent girls—with the assistance of social workers, other 
professionals, and the girls’ own families—to build a community and a 
space for self-love that might be slightly buffered from the pressures of the 
dominant culture. Programmatic DMT utilizes not only Choate’s protective 
factors, but other researchers’ understandings of the psychological and 
sociological pathways that enable those factors. As noted in the preceding 
section, researchers have identified marginalization and, by extension, 
racism as the social forces that enable communities and individuals to build 



COLUMBIA SOCIAL WORK REVIEW, VOL. X | 9 

BODY IMAGE RESILIENCE PROGRAM

cultures that reject dominant norms, such as the thin-ideal. Something as 
destructive as racial segregation, though, need not be the mechanism for the 
development of separate cultures where positive body image can flourish. 
Dance for Life would ideally give girls an ideological and communal space 
where they could cultivate their own norms for wellness, beauty, and self-
love. 

While some of these outcomes of Dance for Life are intangible, certain 
measures could be used to ensure that Dance for Life implementations are 
following best practices. We would recommend using a process evaluation 
to ensure that the program curriculum is being implemented in accordance 
with Choate’s Body Image Resilience Model (2005).  Specifically, the 
program would be evaluated on: a) how the program is run; b) whether the 
services are of high quality; c) whether the program is meeting its targets; 
d) whether the operations are compliant with applicable regulations and 
mandates; and e) whether clients are satisfied with the services. Program 
administrators could use a focus group to gather this information. Providers 
could also implement an impact evaluation for all participants, including 
adolescent girls and their parents. In short, the program would be evaluated 
based on achievement of the expected outcomes, the impact of the program 
on the welfare of the adolescents, and whether the program, in fact, promotes 
resilience towards the development of negative body image. 

CONCLUSION
As a risk factor for eating disorders and depression, body image 

dissatisfaction is a serious individual and societal problem, especially 
for girls and adolescents. (We would recommend that more research be 
conducted to discern the forms that body image dissatisfaction takes in 
men, boys, and nonbinary individuals, even if those forms may be attenuated 
in the two former groups.) While individual characteristics have a role in 
making a young woman prone to body image dissatisfaction, we initially 
place body image dissatisfaction into its sociocultural context, identifying 
the role of peers, family, and the media in a Tripartite Model of Influence. 

We turn toward the individual and personal protective factors, though, 
when we discuss not just preventing and intervening with body image 
dissatisfaction, but promoting positive body image. This focus on the 
individual and her resilience reflects the reality that changing culture 
such that it promotes body image satisfaction is hard—especially when 
such a change would target attitudes as diffuse and universal as those that 
cause body image dissatisfaction. Choate (2005) and other researchers 
point to different ethno-racial cultures that have been resilient to White, 
Westernized standards of thinness and beauty, especially African Americans 
and Mexican Americans. We duly identify separation from and creation of 
a socio-ideological space outside the dominant culture as a key pathway 
for resilience to develop. We adopt Choate’s (2005) model of body image 
resilience, which identifies five key protective factors, as the goal of our 



10 | COLUMBIA SOCIAL WORK REVIEW, VOL. X 

BODY IMAGE RESILIENCE PROGRAM

intervention. We operate with the assumption that protective factors 
involving physicality and coping strategies are the easiest to develop in 
adolescent girls.

Several empirically supported techniques exist for the treatment of body 
image dissatisfaction, with dissonance reduction being the most effective. 
The drawback of these modalities, though, is that these interventions focus 
largely on risk factors to the expense of protective factors. As an alternative 
or complement to existing therapies, we put forward Dance Movement 
Therapy (DMT) as a preventative and interventional program to help girls 
to develop body image satisfaction, along with resilience toward forces that 
effectively promote body image dissatisfaction. Our Dance for Life program 
would use a strengths-based approach to help girls; it would give them the 
tools that they need to have healthy body image and the space to develop 
those tools.

Versions of DMT have been tried broadly within different outpatient and 
inpatient psychological programs, to address everything from depression to 
trauma to eating disorders. We believe that as a flexible, arts-based approach, 
it would fit in well with the span of activities on which many girls spend 
their time—where those activities include school, extracurriculars, or 
hanging out with friends. We provide a general template that clinicians, 
educators, community members, school administrators, or other concerned 
parties might use to begin implementing a DMT program for body image 
dissatisfaction. We further propose that body-image-targeting DMT 
programs for adolescent girls would be accompanied by family discussion 
series, as well as informal family engagement and involvement—given the 
potential of family to be either a negative influence on body image or a 
significant protective factor. 

As an alternative, arts-based therapy, DMT has proven popular 
but understudied.  Given the likely increasing ubiquity of body image 
dissatisfaction due to social media, researchers, educators, and clinicians 
should be devoted to exploring new solutions and approaches—especially 
for diverse populations and for communities not otherwise reached by 
mental health services. The connection of body image dissatisfaction to 
eating disorders means that not only could people’s emotional well-being 
be at stake, but also their lives.



COLUMBIA SOCIAL WORK REVIEW, VOL. X | 11 

BODY IMAGE RESILIENCE PROGRAM

REFERENCES
Adams, T., Bezner, J., & Steinhardt, M. (1997). The conceptualization and 

measurement of perceived wellness: Integrating balance across and within 
dimensions. American Journal of Health Promotion, 11, 208–218. 

Anderson, D. R., Huston, A. C., Schmitt, K. L., Linebarger, D. L., & Wright, J. C. (2001). 
Early childhood television viewing and adolescent behavior: The recontact 
study. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 66, 
1–146. 

Anderson, M., & Jiang, J. (2018). Teens, Social Media & Technology 2018. 
Washington, D.C.: Pew Research Center. Retrieved from https://www.
pewinternet.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2018/05/PI_2018.05.31_
TeensTech_FINAL.pdf 

Atkinson, M. J., & Wade, T. D. (2015). Mindfulness-based prevention for eating 
disorders: A school-based cluster randomized controlled study. International 
Journal of Eating Disorders, 48, 1024–1037. doi:10.1002/eat.22416

Barker, E. T., & Galambos, N. L. (2003). Body Dissatisfaction of Adolescent Girls and 
Boys: Risk and Resource Factors. The Journal of Early Adolescence, 23(2), 
141–165. doi:10.1177/0272431603023002002

Bearman, S. K., Presnell, K., Martinez, E., & Stice, E. (2006). The skinny on body 
dissatisfaction: A longitudinal study of adolescent girls and boys. Journal of 
Youth and Adolescence, 35, 229–241.

Bell, B. T., & Dittmar, H (2011). Does media type matter? The role of identification in 
adolescent girls’ media consumption and the impact of different thin-ideal 
media on body image. Sex Roles, 65(7), 478–490. doi:10.1007/s11199-011-
9964-x

Benedikt, R., Wertheim, E. H., & Love, A. (1998). Eating attitudes and weight loss 
attempts in female adolescents and their mothers. Journal of Youth and 
Adolescence, 27, 43–57. 

Berrol, C. (1990). Dance/movement therapy in head injury rehabilitation. Brain 
Injury, 4(3), 257–265.

Bucchianeri, M. M., Arikian, A. J., Hannan, P. J, Eisenberg, M. E., & Neumark-
Sztainer, D. (2013). Body dissatisfaction from adolescence to young 
adulthood: Findings from a 10 year longitudinal study. Body Image, 10, 1–7.

Choate, L. H. (2005). Toward a theoretical model of women’s body image 
resilience. Journal of Counseling and Development, 83(3), 320–330. 
doi:10.1002/j.1556-6678.2005.tb00350.x

Clark, L., & Tiggemann, M. (2006). Appearance culture in 9 to 12 year old girls: Media 
and peer influences on body dissatisfaction. Social Development, 15, 628–643. 

Gardner, R. M., Stark, K., Friedman, B. N., & Jackson, N. A. (2000). Predictors of 
eating disorder scores in children ages 6 through 14: A longitudinal study. 
Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 49(3), 199–205. doi:10.1016/S0022-
3999(00)00172-0



12 | COLUMBIA SOCIAL WORK REVIEW, VOL. X 

Green, E. J. & Drewes, A. A. (Eds.) (2014). Integrating expressive arts and play 
therapy with children and adolescents. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. 

Hagensen, K. P. (2015). Using a Dance/Movement Therapy-Based Wellness 
Curriculum: An Adolescent Case Study. American Journal of Dance 
Therapy, 37(2), 150–175. doi:10.1007/s10465-015-9199-4

Hargreaves, D., & Tiggeman, M. (2004). Idealized media images and adolescent body 
image: “Comparing” boys and girls. Body Image, 1, 351–361.

Hoek, H. W. (2016). Review of the worldwide epidemiology of eating 
disorders. Current Opinion in Psychiatry, 29(6), 336–339. doi:10.1097/
yco.0000000000000282

Jones, D. C. (2004). Body. Image among adolescent boys and girls: A longitudinal 
study. Developmental Psychology, 40, 823–835.

Keery, H., van den Berg, P., & Thompson, J. K. (2004). An evaluation of the tripartite 
model of body image and eating disturbance in adolescent girls. Body Image: 
An International Journal of Research, 1, 237–251. 

Kichler, J. C., & Crowther, J. H. (2001). The effects of maternal modeling and 
negative family communication on women’s eating attitudes and body 
image. Behavior Therapy, 32, 443–457. 

Kluck, A. (2010). Family Influence on Disordered Eating: The Role of Body Image 
Dissatisfaction. Body Image, 7, 8–14.

Lawler, M., & Nixon, E., (2011). Body dissatisfaction among adolescent boys and 
girls: The effects of body mass, peer appearance culture and internalization 
of appearance ideals. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 40, 59–71.

Levine, M. P., & Smolak, L. (2006). The prevention of eating problems and eating 
disorders: Theory, research and practice. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. 

Levine, M. P., & Smolak, L. (2002). Body image development in adolescence. In T. 
F. Cash & T. Pruzinsky (Eds.), Body image: A handbook of theory, research, 
and clinical practice (pp. 74–82). New York: Guilford.

Levine, M., & Smolak, L. (1996). Media as context for the development of 
disordered eating. In L. Smolak, M. Levine & R. Striegel-Moore (Eds.), The 
developmental psychopathology of eating disorders (pp. 235–257). Mahwah, 
NJ: Erlbaum. 

Lewis, R. N., & Scannell, E. D. (1995). Relationship of Body Image and Creative 
Dance Movement. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 81(1), 155–160. doi:10.2466/
pms.1995.81.1.155

Meekums, B. (1992). The love bugs: Dance movement therapy in a Family Service 
Unit. In H. Payne (Ed.), Dance Movement Therapy: Theory and Practice (pp. 
18–38). London, New York: Tavistock/Routledge.

Mendelson, B., Mendelson, M., & White, D. (2001). Body-Esteem Scale for 
adolescents and adults. Journal of Personality Assessment, 76, 90–106. 
doi:10.1207/S15327752JPA7601_6

Myers, T. A., & Crowther, J. H. (2009). Social comparison as a predictor of body 
dissatisfaction: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 
118, 683–698. 

BODY IMAGE RESILIENCE PROGRAM



COLUMBIA SOCIAL WORK REVIEW, VOL. X | 13 

Neumark-Sztainer, D., Levine, M. P., Paxton, S. J., Smolak, L., Piran, N., & Wertheim, 
E. H. (2006). Prevention of body dissatisfaction and disordered eating. What 
next?. Eating Disorders, 14, 265–285. 

O’Dea, J. A. (2004). Evidence for a Self-Esteem Approach in the Prevention of 
Body Image and Eating Problems among Children and Adolescents. Eating 
Disorders, 12(3), 225–239. doi:10.1080/10640260490481438

Parker, S., Nichter, M., Nichter, M., Vuckovic, N., Sims, C., & Ritenbaugh, C. (1995). 
Body image and weight concerns among African American and White 
adolescent females: Differences that make a difference. Human organization 
54(2), 103–114.

Paxton, S. J., Neumark-Sztainer, D., Hannan, P. J., & Eisenberg, M. E. (2006). 
Body dissatisfaction prospectively predicts depressive mood and low self-
esteem in adolescent girls and boys. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent 
Psychology 35, 539–549.

Payne, H. (1992). Dance movement therapy: Theory and practice. London: Tavistock/
Routledge.

Pelletier, L. G., Dion, S., & Lévesque, C. (2004). Can self-determination help protect 
women against sociocultural influences about body image and reduce their 
risk of experiencing bulimic symptoms. Journal of Social and Clinical 
Psychology, 23(1), 61–88.

Perloff, R. M. (2014). Social media effects on young women’s body image concerns: 
Theoretical perspectives and an agenda for research. Sex Roles: A Journal of 
Research, 71(11–12), 363–377. doi:10.1007/s11199-014-0384-6

Pylvänäinen, P. (2003). Body Image: A Tripartite Model for Use in Dance/
Movement Therapy. American Journal of Dance Therapy, 25(1), 39–55. 
doi:10.1023/A:1025517232383

Ritter, M., & Graff Low, K. (1996). Effects of dance/movement therapy: A meta-
analysis. The arts in Psychotherapy, 23(3), 249–260.

Rohde, P., Stice, E., & Marti, C. N. (2015). Development and predictive effects of 
eating disorder risk factors during adolescence: Implications for prevention 
efforts. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 48(2), 187–198. 
doi:10.1002/eat.22270

Runfola, C. D., Von Holle, A., Trace, S. E., Brownley, K. A., Hofmeier, S. M., Gagne, D. 
A., & Bulik, C. M. (2013). Body dissatisfaction in women across the lifespan: 
Results of the UNC-SELF and Gender and Body Image (GABI) studies. 
European Eating Disorders Review: The journal of the Eating Disorders 
Association, 21(1), 52–9.

Schroff, H., & Thompson, K. (2006). The Tripartite Influence Model of Body Image 
and Eating Disturbance: A replication with adolescent girls. Body Image, 
3, 17-23. 

Shisslak, C. M., & Crago, M. (2001). Risk and protective factors in the development 
of eating disorders. In K. J. Thompson & L. Smolak (Eds.), Body image, eating 
disorders, and obesity in youth (pp. 103–125). Washington, DC: American 
Psychological Association.

BODY IMAGE RESILIENCE PROGRAM



14 | COLUMBIA SOCIAL WORK REVIEW, VOL. X 

Shuttlesworth, M. E., & Zotter, D. (2011). Disordered Eating in African American 
and Caucasian Women: The Role of Ethnic Identity. Journal of Black 
Studies, 42(6), 906–922. doi:10.1177/0021934710396368

Smink, F. R. E., van Hoeken, D., & Hoek, H. W. (2012). Epidemiology of eating 
disorders: Incidence, prevalence, and mortality rates. Current Psychiatry 
Reports, 14(4), 406–414. doi:10.1007/s11920-012-0282-y

Snapp, S., Choate, L. H., & Ryu, E. (2012). A body image resilience model for first 
year college women. Sex Roles, 67, 211–221. doi:10.1007/s11199-012-0163-1

Stice, E., Becker, C. B., Yokum, S. (2013). Eating disorder prevention: Current 
evidence base and future directions. International Journal of Eating 
Disorders 46, 478–485. 

Stice, E., Rohde, P., Gau, J., & Shaw, H. (2009). An effectiveness trial of a dissonance-
based eating disorder prevention program for high-risk adolescent girls. 
Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 77(5), 825–834. doi:10.1037/
a0016132

Stice, E., Shaw, H., Burton, E., & Wade, E. (2006). Dissonance and healthy weight 
eating disorder prevention programs: A randomized efficacy trial. Journal 
of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 74, 263–275.

Stice, E., Shaw, H., & Marti, C.N. (2007). A meta-analytic review of eating disorder 
prevention programs: Encouraging findings. Annual Review of Clinical 
Psychology, 3, 207–231. 

Tiggemann, M., & Slater, A. (2013). NetGirls: The internet, Facebook, and body 
image concern in adolescent girls. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 
46, 630–633. 

Thompson, J. K., Heinberg, L. J., Altabe, M., & Tantleff-Dunn, S. (1999). Exacting 
beauty: Theory, assessment and treatment of body image disturbance. 
Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Vartanian, L. R., Hayward, L. E., Smyth, J. M., Paxton, S. J., & Touyz, S. W. (2018). 
Risk and resiliency factors related to body dissatisfaction and disordered 
eating: The identity disruption model. The International Journal of Eating 
Disorders, 51(4), 322–330. doi:10.1002/eat.22835

Warren, C. S., Gleaves, D. H., Cepeda-Benito, A., Fernandez, M. D. C., & Rodriguez-
Ruiz, S. (2005). Ethnicity as a protective factor against internalization 
of a thin ideal and body dissatisfaction. International Journal of Eating 
Disorders, 37(3), 241–249.

Watson, L. B., Ancis, J. R., White, D. N., & Nazari, N. (2013). Racial Identity 
Buffers African American Women From Body Image Problems and 
Disordered Eating. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 37(3), 337–350. 
doi:10.1177/0361684312474799

Welling, A. (2014). What is Dance/Movement Therapy? American Dance Therapy 
Association. Retrieved from https://adta.org/2014/11/08/what-is-
dancemovement-therapy/

BODY IMAGE RESILIENCE PROGRAM



COLUMBIA SOCIAL WORK REVIEW, VOL. X | 15 

CORA B. RICHTER, M.A. IN PSYCHOLOGY IN EDUCATION
Cora B. Richter is currently in her second year of a Reduced Residency 
MSW program at Columbia School of Social Work in the Advanced Clinical 
Social Work Practice track. Originally from New Bedford, Massachusetts, 
Cora received her Bachelor’s degree from Roger Williams University in 
2010 and her M.A. in Psychology in Education from Teachers College, 
Columbia University in 2012. For the past 4 years, Cora has worked full 
time for Columbia University Medical Center’s Department of Psychiatry 
as program coordinator for the Columbia Day program, Lieber Recovery 
and Rehabilitation Clinic, and Smithers Addiction Center where she 
will continue on next year for field placement. Cora currently resides in 
Brooklyn, New York. 

KIMONE C. COLEY is a student in the Advanced Generalist Practice  
Program track with a focus in Health, Mental Health, and Disabilities. 
Kimone earned her Bachelor of Arts degree at Smith College in 
Massachusetts, where she majored in psychology and minored in applied 
statistics.  Born in Jamaica, Kimone loves to write poetry. 

BODY IMAGE RESILIENCE PROGRAM


