Despite the theoretical connection between media literacy and body dissatisfaction, empirical findings about their relationship are decidedly mixed. There is not a clear explanation for these discrepancies. The present study aimed to 1) compare the attitudes young adult women with those of a reference group of adolescents to examine whether similar values were observed despite differences in age group and racial/ethnic identity, 2) to examine the relationships between media literacy and body dissatisfaction using recommended measures of media literacy. Racially diverse female undergraduate students (N = 152, M_age = 21.62) completed the Media Attitudes Questionnaire, the Critical Thinking about Media Measure, and the Body Shape Questionnaire online. Young adult women endorsed greater critical thinking about media messages and greater skepticism towards the similarity of media messages than adolescents. Additionally, greater skepticism towards the desirability and realism of media messages was associated with lower body dissatisfaction while greater critical thinking about media messages was found to be positively related to greater body dissatisfaction. It is possible that greater critical thinking within the context of media literacy cannot occur without increased attention towards or time spent thinking about media messages. Findings suggest that enhancing critical thinking about the media may not be the main mechanism of change for effective media literacy interventions. These findings underscore the complexities that exist within the relationships between media literacy and body dissatisfaction and highlight the continued need for research in this area.

尽管媒体素养和身体不满之间存在理论上的联系，但关于它们之间关系的实证研究结果显然是混杂的。对于这些差异没有明确的解释。本研究旨在 1) 将年轻成年女性的态度与青少年参考组的态度进行比较，以检验尽管年龄组和种族/族裔身份存在差异，是否观察到相似的价值观，2) 检验媒体素养与身体之间的关系使用推荐的媒体素养措施的不满。不同种族的女本科生（N = 152，M_年龄 = 21.62）在线完成了媒体态度问卷、媒体衡量批判性思考和体型问卷。与青少年相比，年轻成年女性对媒体信息有更多的批判性思考，并对媒体信息的相似性持更大的怀疑态度。此外，对媒体信息的可取性和现实性的更大怀疑与下半身的不满有关，而对媒体信息的更大批判性思考则与更大的身体不满呈正相关。如果不增加对媒体信息的关注或花时间思考媒体信息，就可能无法在媒体素养的背景下进行更大的批判性思维。研究结果表明，加强对媒体的批判性思维可能不是有效媒体素养干预措施的主要变革机制。这些发现强调了媒体素养与身体不满之间关系中存在的复杂性，并强调了该领域研究的持续需求。