Understanding the Process: How Mediated and Peer Norms Affect Young Women’s Body Esteem Marina Krcmar, Steve Giles, & Donald Helme This study examined the contribution of interpersonal and mediated perceived norms to young women’s body esteem among first-year college women. In addition, we examined the role of social comparison as a mediator for the relationship between norms and body esteem. Several findings were notable. First, interpersonal norms do have a significant relationship with esteem. Young women who perceived that their peers and par- ents to valued thinness, and that parents made comments about body appearance, had lower body esteem. In addition, mediated norms also were related to lower appearance and weight esteem. Specifically, exposure to fashion, celebrity and fitness magazines had a negative effect on young women’s appearance esteem; however, this relationship was mediated by social comparison, suggesting that comparison is the mechanism by which esteem is lowered. However, for fitness magazines, the relationship between exposure and esteem was direct and held up even when social comparison was controlled for. Keywords: Body Esteem; Interpersonal Norms; Media Norms; Social Comparison Norms for female thinness in American culture derive from many sources, although few would argue that media norms and peer norms play a role (Harrison, 2000). These excessively thin norms have also been found to be related to another variable associated with problematic outcomes such as eating disorders: body dissatisfaction (Joiner, Wonderlich, Metalsky, & Schmitt, 1995). Body dissatisfaction is frequently implicated as a major contributor to eating disorders in young women (Harrison, 2000; Harrison & Cantor, 1997; Wiederman & Pryor, 2000). In both clinical Marina Krcmar (PhD, University of Wisconsin, 1995) is an associate professor, Steve Giles (PhD, University of Kentucky, 1998) is an assistant professor, and Donald Helme (PhD, University of Kentucky, 2000) is an assistant professor, all at Wake Forest University. Correspondence: Marina Krcmar, Department of Communication, Wake Forest University, 1834 Wake Forest Road, Winston–Salem, NC 27106. E-mail: Krcmarm@wfu.edu Communication Quarterly Vol. 56, No. 2, May 2008, pp. 111–130 ISSN 0146-3373 print/1746-4102 online # 2008 Eastern Communication Association DOI: 10.1080/01463370802031844