Dataset Information

Body Dissatisfaction, Importance of Appearance, and Body Appreciation in Men and Women Over the Lifespan.

ABSTRACT: Body image disturbance is associated with several mental disorders. Previous research on body image has focused mostly on women, largely neglecting body image in men. Moreover, only a small number of studies have conducted gender comparisons of body image over the lifespan and included participants aged 50 years and older. With regard to measurement, body image has often been assessed only in terms of body dissatisfaction, disregarding further aspects such as body appreciation or the importance of appearance. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to explore different aspects of body image in the general German-speaking population and to compare men and women of various ages. Participants completed an online survey comprising questionnaires about body image. Body dissatisfaction, importance of appearance, the number of hours per day participants would invest and the number of years they would sacrifice to achieve their ideal appearance, and body appreciation were assessed and analyzed with respect to gender and age differences. We hypothesized that body dissatisfaction and importance of appearance would be higher in women than in men, that body dissatisfaction would remain stable across age in women, and that importance of appearance would be lower in older women compared to younger women. Body appreciation was predicted to be higher in men than in women. General and generalized linear models were used to examine the impact of age and gender. In line with our hypotheses, body dissatisfaction was higher in women than in men and was unaffected by age in women, and importance of appearance was higher in women than in men. However, only in men did age predict a lower level of the importance of appearance. Compared to men, women stated that they would invest more hours of their lives to achieve their ideal appearance. For both genders, age was a predictor of the number of years participants would sacrifice to achieve their ideal appearance. Contrary to our assumption, body appreciation improved and was higher in women across all ages than in men. The results seem to suggest that men's and women's body image are dissimilar and appear to vary across different ages.

SUBMITTER: Quittkat HL

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6928134 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Body Dissatisfaction, Importance of Appearance, and Body Appreciation in Men and Women Over the Lifespan.

Quittkat Hannah L HL Hartmann Andrea S AS Düsing Rainer R Buhlmann Ulrike U Vocks Silja S

Frontiers in psychiatry 20191217

Body image disturbance is associated with several mental disorders. Previous research on body image has focused mostly on women, largely neglecting body image in men. Moreover, only a small number of studies have conducted gender comparisons of body image over the lifespan and included participants aged 50 years and older. With regard to measurement, body image has often been assessed only in terms of body dissatisfaction, disregarding further aspects such as body appreciation or the importance ...[more]

PMID: 31920737

Similar Datasets

Project description:BackgroundBody image is considered a core issue for public health and associates with university students' overall health. Due to positive associations between exercise and body image, it has been suggested that students within an exercise science program might be more body appreciative compared to other students. On the other hand, the strong societal idealization of the athletic body may expose them to a pressure of having a specific body appearance, which may result in unfavorable health consequences. Nevertheless, studies investigating these hypotheses are lacking. We therefore aimed to explore the level and associations of body appreciation, body appearance pressure, body image related mental health constructs, physical activity, and exercise, in Norwegian university exercise science and non-health reference students.MethodMale and female exercise science students (n = 517) and reference students (n = 476), from nine large universities in Norway took part in this cross-sectional study. Participants responded to the Body appreciation scale-2, a self-developed questionnaire on body appearance pressure, Physical Appearance Comparison Scale-Revised, Sociocultural attitudes towards appearance questionnaire-4R, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, Satisfaction with Life Scale, and questions about physical activity and exercise. Between group differences were analyzed using student independent t-test and ANCOVA for parametric data and Chi-square test for categorical data, and associations were evaluated by Person's correlation. P-values ≤0.05 were defined as significant.ResultsFemale exercise science students had higher scores on body appreciation compared to reference students. No group difference was found in males. A high percentage of students reported experiencing body appearance pressure, with 69 and 85% among male and female exercise science students, and 57 and 83% among male and female reference students. Fitness centers were the settings where most respondents experienced body appearance pressure. Body appreciation was strongly associated with favorable scores on body image related mental health constructs, while personally experienced body appearance pressure associated with destructive scores on the same constructs.ConclusionBody appearance pressure is an issue among university students regardless of study program. Actions to promote body appreciation and prevent body appearance pressure may include an implementation of media literacy, body functionality, and exercise as topics within the education program to safeguard students' health and well-being.Clinical trial registryNo. NCT04256967 .

Project description:ObjectiveThis study aimed to determine the evolution of Instagram use, body dissatisfaction and physical appearance comparisons throughout the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, and to explore whether there was a relationship between the changes in Instagram use throughout the pandemic and body dissatisfaction and physical appearance comparisons.MethodA total of 272 Spanish women (16-70 years old) were followed-up across four waves of assessment between November 2019 (before the pandemic started) and July 2021. Body dissatisfaction, social appearance comparisons, and Instagram use were assessed using the Eating Disorders Inventory-3, the Physical Appearance Comparison Scale-Revised, and an ad hoc questionnaire for Instagram use, respectively.ResultsNo statistically significant changes were found in the frequency of Instagram use, nor on the proportion of women following appearance-focused accounts on Instagram, among the data collection periods. Body dissatisfaction significantly increased from T1 to T4, and physical appearance comparisons significantly increased from T1 to T2, T3, and T4. These increases were not found to be significant for those with eating disorder risk. No significant differences were found in body dissatisfaction and physical appearance comparisons depending on whether participants' frequency of Instagram use had changed or remained the same, or whether they had started/stopped/continued following appearance-focused accounts on Instagram during the pandemic.DiscussionWomen's body dissatisfaction and physical appearance comparisons seem to have increased throughout the pandemic. The experiences of individuals with eating disorder risk throughout the pandemic, and the relationship between the pandemic and Instagram use, might be complex and need further research.Public significanceThis study suggests that women's body dissatisfaction and physical appearance comparisons have increased throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. However, this increase might not be as clear for those who had eating disorder risk before the pandemic. Instagram frequency of use, and the percentage of women following appearance-focused accounts on Instagram, do not seem to have significantly increased. More research is needed to explore the impact of the pandemic.

Project description:In the current paper, two different studies were designed to investigate body image dissatisfaction and perception of the attractive female body in Chinese and Croatian women and men using the correlational and experimental study research approach. Study 1 comprised 266 Chinese (160 women; 106 men) and 261 Croatian participants (161 women; 100 men). Women from both countries were asked to complete the measures of the Contour Rating Scale, SATAQ - 4, Body Area Scale and demographic data, while men were asked to complete the measures of the Contour Rating Scale and demographic data via online surveys. The obtained results indicated that thin internalization predicted body image dissatisfaction in both samples. Besides, while both samples scored relatively high on thin-ideal internalization, Chinese women, who were also in general less satisfied with their body image, had higher scores. Chinese women also scored higher on musculature internalization and felt more pressure from family, friends, and media to conform to standard beauty norms compared to Croatian women. The samples also differed in their perceptions of preferable body size, where Chinese women had a more negative perception of their actual body size. The obtained results furthermore revealed that Chinese men preferred thinner women compared to Croatian men. Moreover, both samples misjudged what their female counterparts found attractive, thinking that women wanted to have even thinner bodies than they actually reported. Similarly, women from both cultures revealed a preference for thinner figures than the ones selected as the most attractive by the opposite sex. Finally, in Study 2, experimental manipulation of thin-ideal was used to examine whether thin priming affected body image dissatisfaction. The obtained results revealed that when primed with thin-ideal women from both countries felt lower satisfaction with their body size. The observed effect was stronger for Chinese participants. Limitations of the current study are discussed in the conclusion.

Dataset Information

Body Dissatisfaction, Importance of Appearance, and Body Appreciation in Men and Women Over the Lifespan.

Publications

Body Dissatisfaction, Importance of Appearance, and Body Appreciation in Men and Women Over the Lifespan.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets