A Body Image Resilience Model for First-Year College Women

What can my body do for me? Guided body-functionality mirror gazing task improved college women's body appreciation and body functionality orientation

Objective: Focusing on body functionality - what the body can do - may benefit women's body image. This pilot study examined the effects of focusing on body functionality appreciation during an audio-guided mirror gazing task (F-MGT). Participants: 101 college women, M(SD)_AGE = 19.49(1.31), were alternately assigned to F-MGT or a comparison with no guidance on how to examine the body, directed attention mirror gazing task (DA-MGT). Methods: Participants self-reported pre- and post-MGT body appreciation, state appearance satisfaction, and orientation to and satisfaction with physical functionality. Results: Group interactions were significant for body appreciation and functionality orientation. DA-MGT decreased body appreciation from pre- to post-MGT; F-MGT did not change. There were no significant interactions in post-MGT state appearance satisfaction or functionality satisfaction, though state appearance satisfaction increased significantly in F-MGT. Conclusions: Integrating body functionality may buffer against harmful effects of mirror gazing. Given F-MGT's brevity, additional work must assess its potential as an intervention technique.

Disordered eating symptoms as a function of perceived weight status and race: An intersectional examination

Disordered eating (DE) exhibited by individuals with intersecting marginalized identities may be less likely to be perceived as pathological compared to DE exhibited by individuals with non-marginalized identities. The present experiment tested the intersectional impact of weight status and race stimuli on responses to DE in a college sample. Undergraduate students (N = 193, M_age = 18.57, SD = 1.88, 71 % female) read a fictional account from a female target with DE who was described as "underweight," "average weight," or "overweight," and "White" or "Black." Participants completed an in-lab survey assessing detection of and responses to DE. Three 2 (race: Black, White) x 3 (weight status: underweight, average weight, overweight) ANCOVAs revealed a main effect of weight status. DE was more likely to be detected in "underweight" than "average" and "overweight" targets (p < .001). Participants encouraged weight loss for "average" and "overweight" targets compared to "underweight" targets (p < .001) and encouraged weight restoration for "underweight" targets compared to "average weight" and "overweight" targets (p < .001). No significant effects for target race or interaction between weight status and race emerged. These findings underscore the salience of weight status in shaping perceptions of DE.

Superhero ideal, authenticity in relationships, and depressive symptoms: A multiple mediation analysis

Striving for high achievement across multiple domains to achieve an unrealistic ideal may predict adolescents' depressive symptoms, and this relation may be explained by authenticity in meaningful relationships. This is the first known study to examine the relation between internalization of the superhero ideal, defined as the socially prescribed desire for achievement across personal and professional domains, and depressive symptoms, and to examine authenticity in relationships as a mediator in the relation between the superhero ideal and depressive symptoms. Participants were 163 adolescents (ages 12-14). Multiple mediation results utilizing cross-sectional data indicated that the superhero ideal was related to depressive symptoms and that authenticity in relationships with peers and parents partially mediated this relation. These results identify a possible explanation for understanding the relation between the superhero ideal and depressive symptoms.

Body Appreciation in Light of Psychological, Health- and Weight-Related Variables Among Female Adolescents

Recent research has begun to focus on positive body image and how this can be supported in adolescence. Body appreciation is a key element of positive body image, and has been associated with self-reported health status, weight-related concern, family factors and psychological variables such as self-esteem. In this study we explored these associations among Hungarian adolescent females. Female high school students from two major towns in Csongrád county, Hungary (N = 454; age range from 14 to 20; M = 16.3 years, SD = 1.2) completed questionnaires assessing body appreciation, self-esteem, optimism, life satisfaction and health- and weight-related variables. Analyses revealed that body appreciation was most strongly related to self-esteem, as well as being positively associated with life satisfaction, self-perceived health, being in control of diet, and engagement in sport. Conversely, binge drinking, engaging in slimming behaviors and having eating disorders in the family were negatively associated with body appreciation. These findings provide some indications of factors that might be targetted in health education programs aiming to promote positive body image and to develop resilience against body dissatisfaction in this demographic group. Such programs should also include information of nutrition and media literacy.

The Weight of Things: Understanding African American Women's Perceptions of Health, Body Image, and Attractiveness

Negative attitudes toward being overweight or obese are widespread, and these notions perpetuate into conceptions about one's health. Clinically, being overweight is associated with health problems such as diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, and many other illnesses. African American women, who are generally larger in body size, are a particular target for health interventions. However, these women have resisted the "obesity" label, arguing that dominant measures of health are White norms and oppressive. Through the use of in-depth interviews, this study investigates how African American women understand and experience healthfulness, body image, and barriers to each. Findings show that African American women are ambivalent in their acceptance of dominant markers of health and expressed an almost universal disdain for the thin ideal as a marker of "good" health and a positive body image. Moreover, participants articulated a suspicion of formal medical measurements of obesity.

Resilience, self-esteem, and body attitude in women from early to late adulthood

Background

There are only a few papers dealing with the correlation power of mental resources (i.e. resilience and self-esteem) and attitude towards one’s own body in women at different ages, from youth to late adulthood. The aim of the article was to present the results of research focusing on the influence of mental resources (resilience and self-esteem) on development of anti-health or health-promoting attitudes in adult women towards their own bodies.

Participants and procedure

The study involved 150 female participants aged 20–55 years. The following research methods were applied: the Rosenberg’s self-esteem scale SES, the Scale of Resilience Measurement SPP-25, the Contour Drawing Rating Scale by Thomson and Gray, the Multidimensional Self-Esteem Inventory (MSEI), the Body Esteem Scale BES by Franzoi and Shields, the Eating Disorder Inventory EDI, and the Questionnaire of Behaviour Towards the Body.

Results

The conducted analysis indicated a relevant relation between individual resources (both general self-esteem and mental resiliency) and cognitive emotional attitude towards one’s own body in the examined women. The predictors of behaviours towards one’s own body in the examined women turned out to be only a strong drive to be thin and fear of gaining weight. The strongest predictors of self-assessment of the body and the evaluation of physical attractiveness were general self-esteem and resilience. Self-esteem turned out to be the strongest predictor for satisfaction with sexual attractiveness.

Conclusions

Early diagnosis of distorted body image, and adopting a negative attitude towards it, can help to make more detailed psychological diagnosis of individual’s resources (resiliency and self-esteem) and their role in the development of the attitude towards one’s own body.

Gender conformity, self-objectification, and body image for sorority and nonsorority women: A closer look

Sororities have been identified as placing young women at risk for body image concerns due to a focus on traditional gender role norms and objectification of women.

OBJECTIVE

This study assessed the relationship between conformity to feminine gender role norms, self-objectification, and body image surveillance among undergraduate women.

PARTICIPANTS

In a random sample of undergraduates, the authors examined data from sorority and nonsorority women.

METHODS

In a random sample of undergraduate women, the authors assessed the impact of traditional feminine gender role norms on self-objectification, body image, and feedback regarding physical appearance for sorority and nonsorority undergraduate women.

RESULTS

Three linear regressions were conducted, and only conformity to feminine gender role norms contributed significantly in each regression model.

CONCLUSIONS

Regardless of sorority membership, conformity to feminine gender role norms was found to significantly contribute to increased body consciousness, negative body image, and feedback on physical appearance.

Does Internalizing Society and Media Messages Cause Body Dissatisfaction, in Turn Causing Disordered Eating?

The purpose of this study was to examine the predictive influence that internalization of society and media messages has on body dissatisfaction, as well as the prediction influence that body dissatisfaction has on disordered eating behaviors, such as preoccupation with weight, dieting, and eating restraint. A total of 324 participants completed the demographic questionnaire, the Multidimensional Body Self Relations Questionnaire (Cash, 2001 ), the Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire (Heinberg, Thompson, & Stormer, 1995 ) for women, and the Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire-Revised-Male-Version (Cusumano & Thompson, 1997 ) for men, and the locus of control (Rotter, 1966 ). The results of this study found that high internalization leads to body dissatisfaction, in turn, leading to disordered eating behaviors, such as preoccupation with weight, dieting, and eating restraint. This study proposes the implementation of media literacy and education programs that teach college women and men, girls and boys, to think more critically about the media.

Considering an affect regulation framework for examining the association between body dissatisfaction and positive body image in Black older adolescent females: does body mass index matter?

The present study provided an initial evaluation of an affect regulation model describing the association between body dissatisfaction and two contemporary measures of positive body image among 247 Black college-bound older adolescent females. We further tested whether possessing a higher body mass index (BMI) would strengthen these associations. Self-reported height and weight were used to calculate BMI. Respondents also completed a culturally-sensitive figure rating scale along with assessments of body appreciation and body image flexibility. Results indicated a robust positive association between the two measures of positive body image; BMI was the strongest predictor of both body appreciation and body image flexibility with body size discrepancy (current minus ideal) contributing incremental variance to both models tested. Implications for improving our understanding of the association between positive and negative body image and bolstering positive body image to promote health-protective behaviors among Black young women at this developmental juncture are discussed.