Sociocultural influences on body image concerns and body change strategies among Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Australian adolescent girls and boys

Sociocultural messages about the ideal body build have been studied predominantlyamong White adolescent girls. In the current study we examined the relationships between perceived sociocultural influences, body image concerns, and body change strategies among 47 (22 boys and 25 girls) Indigenous Australian adolescents. These relationships were compared to those from 47 non-Indigenous adolescents (predominantly from an Anglo-Saxon background), who were matched on gender, age, and school grade. Overall, the sociocultural influences were found to be associated with body image concerns and body change strategies among both cultural groups. The only exception was that the sociocultural influences were not associated with the Indigenous girls levels of body dissatisfaction or body image importance. These findings are discussed in relation to past studies of White and Black girls.

Sociocultural influences on adolescent boys' body image and body change strategies

Society provides messages about how people should ideally look and previous research has indicated these messages, both the actual messages provided and the perception of the message, influence body image. Research into male body image has shown males are concerned with having a lean and muscular body and as such, may want to decrease fat and increase their muscles. This paper explored the influence of a range of messages from parents, peers, and the media on a number of different measures of 362 adolescent boys’ body image and body change strategies. Specifically, messages about shape, food, exercise, losing weight and increasing muscles were explored in relation to satisfaction with weight and muscles, and the use of strategies to decrease weight and increase muscles. The findings indicated that parental messages were the strongest influence on body image and that parents, the media, and to a lesser extent messages from male friends were the strongest predictors of body change strategies.

A `Rubber-hand` illusion reveals a relationship between perceptual body image and unhealthy body change

The ‘rubber-hand’ illusion, in which individuals misattribute tactile sensations felt by their hand to a rubber prosthetic hand that they see being stimulated, was employed to examine the relationship between perceptual body image and unhealthy body change in 128 volunteers. Variance in unhealthy body development in males (22%) and in bulimic symptomatology in both females and males (10%), was explained by susceptibility to the illusion. The illusion, which is relatively free from cognitive and emotional ‘contamination’, could be used to identify individuals most responsive to therapies designed to correct inaccurate body perceptions–individuals whose perceptual body image is malleable.

Waist-to-Hip Ratio and Unhealthy Body Change in Women

The role of waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) in unhealthy body change was examined in a sample of 143 women university students. They completed the Eating Disorder Examination-Questionnaire (EDE-Q), reported their level of concern with weight and with WHR, and used unmarked measuring tapes to record their subjective (self-perceived), ideal, and objective (measured) waist and hip circumference. Although body shape was reported as important, and concern with WHR correlated significantly with symptoms of disordered eating, the relationships involving WHR were not independent of those involving body weight. Thus, there appears to be little behavioural and/or clinical significance in the aesthetic evaluations made by women of their WHR. Reasons for this are considered in light of evidence that women regard WHR as more difficult to control and less amenable to change than their overall body weight.

Motivational processes associated with unhealthy body change attitudes and behaviours

Objective
The relationship between approach–avoidance motivational processes and unhealthy body change attitudes and behaviours was investigated.
Method
Self-reported sensitivity to rewards (SR) and sensitivity to punishments (SP) were measured for a convenience sample of 130 women, aged 18 to 40 years, along with measures of disordered eating symptomatology and exercise dependence.
Results
Together, SR and SP significantly predicted variance in drive for thinness (21%), bulimia (17%), and obligatory exercise (7%). These relationships were partly mediated by internalization of the thin ideal, body comparison, and subjective importance of achieving one's ‘ideal’ body and of avoiding one's ‘worst possible’ body. Interestingly, body dissatisfaction partly mediated the relationships involving SP but not SR.
Discussion
The results suggest that an underlying sensitivity to punishments, but not rewards, can manifest as a ‘fear of fatness’. Both of these motivational traits can increase the salience of self evaluations, and thus indirectly contribute to unhealthy body change attitudes and behaviours.

Emotional reactions following exposure to idealized bodies predict unhealthy body change attitudes and behaviors in women and men

Objective: We explored the extent to which changes in emotional states following exposure to images of idealized bodies predict unhealthy body change attitudes and behaviors in women and men, and whether particular psychological traits mediate these effects. Method: One hundred thirty-three women and 93 men were assessed for unhealthy attitudes and behaviors related to body weight and muscles using the Eating Disorder Inventory-2 (EDI-2), the Obligatory Exercise Questionnaire, and the strategies to increase muscles subscale of the Body Change Inventory. Psychological traits assessed included body dissatisfaction (EDI-2), internalization of the thin/athletic ideal (Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire-3), body comparison (Body Comparison Scale), self-esteem (Rosenberg Self-Esteem Inventory), depression (Beck Depression Inventory-II), and identity confusion (Self-Concept Clarity Scale). Participants were then exposed to photographs of thin female models and muscular male models, and visual analogue scales were used to measure changes in postexposure state body dissatisfaction, anger, anxiety, and depression.
Results: Postexposure increases in state anger, anxiety, depression, and body dissatisfaction correlated with drive for thinness and disordered eating symptomatology in women, while postexposure increases in state body dissatisfaction correlated with muscle development in men. Analyses revealed that internalization and body comparison mediated these relationships, with trait body dissatisfaction, trait depression, self-esteem, and self-concept/identity confusion serving as mediators for women only. Conclusion: These results are indicative of gender differences in: (a) reactions to idealized bodies; (b) psychological traits that predispose individuals to experience these reactions; and (c) types of body change behavior that are associated with these reactions.

The role of ethnicity and culture in body image and disordered eating among males

An increasing number of researchers have examined body image concerns, disordered eating, and other behaviors associated with increasing muscle size among men from different cultural groups. However, to date there has been no synthesis or evaluation of these studies. In this paper we specifically review studies which have included a comparison between males from different cultural groups with White males on body image concerns or other related behaviors. The groups include Blacks, Hispanic Americans, Asians, Native Americans, Pacific Islanders, and men from Middle Eastern countries. Overall, evidence suggests that males from a range of cultural groups engage in more extreme body change strategies and binge eating than Whites. On the other hand, there is no consistent pattern which summarizes the nature of body image concerns across the different cultures. Mediating and/or moderating variables are proposed to account for the inconsistent findings. These include body build, levels of acculturation, socio-economic status, media exposure, and internalization of the muscular and lean body ideal.

A longitudinal study of body change strategies of fitness center attendees

This study evaluated predictors of strategies to change weight and muscles among men and women who attend fitness centers. A questionnaire was completed by 107 men (mean age = 39.17, SD = 13.14), and 151 women (mean age = 35.31, SD = 11.38) who regularly attended fitness centers at two points in time, one year apart. The only unique predictor of body change strategies over time for men was body dissatisfaction predicting drive for thinness; for women, body dissatisfaction predicted strategies to lose weight, drive for thinness, use of food supplements to lose weight and levels of bulimia. Media messages also predicted drive for thinness and bulimia among women. These findings would suggest that attendance body dissatisfaction is an important factor predicting other normative and health risk behaviors among fitness center attendees, particularly women at a fitness center over a 12 month period was not generally associated with adverse health risk behaviors.

Change in women's body mass index and waist circumference, 1997 to 2002: the Nepean study

Objective: To investigate character istics associated with body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference stability over a five-year period in women with school-age children.

Methods: Women with 7–8 year-old children from western Sydney, Australia, had anthropometric measures taken in 1996/97 (n====436) and five years later (n=327). Socio-demographic characteristics examined at baseline included age, socioeconomic status, smoking, and number of children.

Results: Over five years, less than half of the women maintained a stable BMI (38.8%) or waist circumference (31.5%), with the majority gaining in both indicators of adiposity. BMI and socio-demographic characteristics were not predictive of BMI or waist circumference stability or decrease.

Conclusions and Implications: Total and abdominal adiposity increased in these Australian women who have children. The results support the need to develop effective weight gain prevention initiatives.