Human immune deficiency virus (HIV) and Acquire immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a worldwide epidemic that impacts individuals physically, socially, and psychologically, and the rates of HIV/AIDS in youth are rising. Antiretroviral treatments have drastically prolonged life in individuals with HIV/AIDS; however, this type of treatment requires strict medication adherence. Many psychosocial factors impacting antiretroviral adherence have been explored, yet very little has been investigated regarding body image. This study investigated the potential impact of body dissatisfaction on antiretroviral medication adherence in adolescents with HIV. Seventy five male and female youth were administered questionnaires on the constructs of body dissatisfaction and medication adherence. Results support the hypothesis that body dissatisfaction negatively impacts medication adherence; yet, its effect in this sample was small (R2 = .06; F(1,61) =3.87, p =.05). Additionally, it was predicted that gender would moderate the nature of the relation between body dissatisfaction and medication adherence, given the disparate societal presentations of ideal body types among genders. However, within the current sample, gender did not have an effect on this relation. Furthermore, this study was interested in exploring if body dissatisfaction within a population of HIV-infected youth was best explained by specific body dissatisfaction with areas of the body associated with lipodystrophy or lipoatrophy syndromes. Due to a very small presentation of these syndromes in the final sample (n = 4), it was not surprising that body dissatisfaction was not best explained through specific dissatisfaction with these body parts. However, dissatisfaction with muscularity in general, was predictive of general body dissatisfaction regardless of gender. A discussion of these findings is included. This study is one of the first of its kind to explore the potential detrimental effects of body dissatisfaction in HIV infected youth.

Self-reported mental health problems have increased dramatically among young female high school (Swedish: gymnasium) and university students in Sweden since the 1990’s. The reasons for this increase are mostly unknown but self-esteem and body image might be important factors behind this problem. The aim of this study was to test whether self-esteem and body dissatisfaction predict health. All correlation directions were in accordance with previous studies on the subject. There was no age group difference in levels of self-esteem, body dissatisfaction or health among the women. Multiple regression analysis revealed that global self-esteem was the strongest single predictor of health. These results give support for the importance of global self-esteem for subjective health. This should be considered in future studies and in the battle against the development of depression, anxiety and eating disorders among women.

Body dissatisfaction is a growing problem in the gay male population, with serious implications for psychological and social well-being. Gay men tend to be at higher risk of body dissatisfaction than their heterosexual counterparts. They report lower levels of body satisfaction and have higher rates of risky behaviors such as anabolic steroid use, eating disorders, and over-exercising (Gil, 2007; Willoughby et al., 2008; Kaminski et al., 2004). It is difficult to determine the cause of this issue in the gay community; however, two theories have been proposed to help explain this phenomenon. Minority stress theory posits that it relates to added stress involved with being part of a minority group. Gender role strain theory identifies these concerns with the strain to conform to masculine gender roles. A common link to bridge the two theories together may be visibility management, which is the way gay men carefully disclose behaviors that would identify their sexual orientation (Lasser & Tharinger, 2003). The proposed method will include participants that will be approximately 130 gay men 18-23 years of age. Participants will be sought through online collection from universities in the United States. Participants will respond to empirically validated measures in regards to Minority Stress, Gender Role Strain, Visibility Management, and Body Dissatisfaction to help determine if what links there are between these variables. / text

The discussion of race within body image research has for many years been a topic of empirical focus. However, remaining still is a lack of knowledge regarding the unique sociocultural factors that are involved in African American women’s experience of body and the development of body dissatisfaction. Racial identity and family background may impact Black women’s body attitudes. The proposed study is an exploratory investigation of body dissatisfaction in a sample of African American women college students. Specifically, the role of racial identity and the endorsement of racial socialization messages received from family will be examined. Findings will serve to increase understanding of the sociocultural underpinnings of body image among Black women. Racial identity and racial socialization will be tested as potential predictors of body dissatisfaction through hierarchical multiple regression analyses. Racial identity status will be examined as a potential mediator of racial socialization and body dissatisfaction. / text

Overweight and obesity are important public health issues in the United States with more than 60% of US adults overweight or obese. The social consequences of being overweight and obese are serious and pervasive. Individuals who are overweight and obese are often the targets of bias and stigma and thus susceptible to negative attitudes. Obesity and weight stigma have been linked to low self-esteem, higher rates of depressive symptoms, body dissatisfaction and poor psychological adjustment. Although weight stigma is a problem in the general population, it is more consequential among adolescents due to mental and physical developmental changes. Therefore college students were used in this study because they are considered older adolescent (ages 18-21). The goals of this study were to examine the association between weight status, weight stigma, self-esteem, body dissatisfaction and depressive symptoms. These associations were examined using multiple linear regression and linear meditational analysis. This study found (1) that overweight and obese individuals experience more stigma than their normal weight and underweight counterparts, (2) weight stigma has a negative effect on body dissatisfaction and depressive symptoms among overweight and obese individuals, (3) self-esteem differed based on perceived weight status, and (4) weight stigma differed among overweight and obese individuals based on self-esteem. Overall, the psychosocial outcomes of weight stigma are greater for individuals at higher levels of weight. It was found that state self-esteem strongly mediated the relationship between weight and stigma in the prediction of depressive symptoms and body dissatisfaction with the greatest impact for depressive symptoms. Low self-esteem and social support reveal that individuals with low self-esteem experience greater negative psychosocial outcomes as well as those with little or no support unable to buffer stigmatizing experiences and have greater negative psychosocial outcomes. In general, the consequences of weight stigma are as real as the medical consequences of obesity. We are called to protect the psychosocial health of college students.

The sociocultural model of eating disorders suggests that awareness of a thin physical ideal directly affects internalization of that ideal, which in turn, directly affects body dissatisfaction. The current study evaluated the general accuracy of the sociocultural model and examined the potential for ethnicity to protect against eating disorder symptomatology by moderating the relationships between awareness and internalization and between internalization and body dissatisfaction. Spanish (n = 100), Mexican American (n = 100), and Euro-American (n = 100) female participants completed various questionnaires measuring sociocultural attitudes towards appearance and body dissatisfaction. Analysis of covariance with tests of homogeneity of slope and path analysis using maximum likelihood with robust standard errors tested the two relationships by ethnic group. Results supported the sociocultural model: there was strong evidence for the mediational effect of internalization on the relationship between awareness and body dissatisfaction. Furthermore, ethnicity moderated the relationships such that both relationships were significantly stronger for Euro-American women than for Mexican American or Spanish women. Within the Mexican American group level of acculturation also moderated these relationships. Taken together, the results of this study highlight how ethnicity can protect against the development of eating disorder symptoms. Denouncing the thin ideal, minimizing appearance as an indicator of female value, and emphasizing personal traits other than appearance as determinants of worth are important in protecting against the development of body dissatisfaction and more severe eating pathology.

This study explored adult women’s lived experiences with body dissatisfaction. Using a multi-methods qualitative approach incorporating in-depth semi-structured interviews and arts-based projects, women between the ages of 20-39 engaged in a critical exploration of their body experiences in order to deepen understanding of the psychological construct of body dissatisfaction and its ongoing influence in their lives. Ten women from diverse social and ethnocultural backgrounds took part in the study, completing 1-2 interviews, an in-session drawing exercise, and a creative project. Interview transcripts, drawings, and creative projects were analyzed for themes using an hermeneutic phenomenological approach. Four core categories emerged from the data. The first category contained the women’s understanding of the experience and meaning of body dissatisfaction. The second category captured the external reinforcement of body dissatisfaction and related body beliefs. The third emergent category delineated the impact of body dissatisfaction on daily life, including body-self relationships and interpersonal relationships. The final category captured the difficulties the women encountered as they attempted to overcome their feelings of body dissatisfaction and their negative body beliefs. This research highlighted the complex and multidimensional meaning of body dissatisfaction in adult women’s lives.

This study explored adult women’s lived experiences with body dissatisfaction. Using a multi-methods qualitative approach incorporating in-depth semi-structured interviews and arts-based projects, women between the ages of 20-39 engaged in a critical exploration of their body experiences in order to deepen understanding of the psychological construct of body dissatisfaction and its ongoing influence in their lives. Ten women from diverse social and ethnocultural backgrounds took part in the study, completing 1-2 interviews, an in-session drawing exercise, and a creative project. Interview transcripts, drawings, and creative projects were analyzed for themes using an hermeneutic phenomenological approach. Four core categories emerged from the data. The first category contained the women’s understanding of the experience and meaning of body dissatisfaction. The second category captured the external reinforcement of body dissatisfaction and related body beliefs. The third emergent category delineated the impact of body dissatisfaction on daily life, including body-self relationships and interpersonal relationships. The final category captured the difficulties the women encountered as they attempted to overcome their feelings of body dissatisfaction and their negative body beliefs. This research highlighted the complex and multidimensional meaning of body dissatisfaction in adult women’s lives.

This study investigates preadolescent girls’ interpretations of images of and messages about women’s bodies presented in both traditional and online media in the American cultural context. Using qualitative methods including in-depth interviews, email diaries, and digital photo collages, this study gives voice to girls aged nine to eleven from diverse racial and socioeconomic backgrounds so that they might tell their stories about interacting with media that is relevant to their relationships with their bodies. Employing objectification theory as well as concepts from the cultural studies tradition, the findings suggest that the process of becoming a female body in the 21st-century American media environment is far more complex than a simple linear, cause-effect equation can express. Differences among girls in terms of media use, degree of media criticism, age, and interpersonal discursive environments moderate their relationships to mediated imagery and to their bodies. The findings also describe the mediated bodily ideal that is most relevant to preadolescent girls, the celebrity girls who embody this ideal, the ways in which girls experience self-objectification and body surveillance, and the nature of girls’ conversations with friends and family members about body-related topics. The study concludes by providing recommendations to concerned researchers, educators, and parents.

Romantic relationships are one of the most important relationships a woman will develop in her life. Women are often socialized to be compliant within their relationships, and are reminded of how a thin body type is ideal. The implications of this socialization can affect the way a woman feels about her body. The current study included 207 women who ranged in age from 18-30, were in a relationship (neither married nor engaged) for 6 months or longer, and identified as either being attracted to the same or opposite sex. Results of the study indicated a significant effect of higher levels of body dissatisfaction between both negative relationship quality, and increased engagement in unhealthy dietary behaviours. In addition, self-silencing was found to be a significant mediator in the relationship between relationship quality and both body dissatisfaction and unhealthy dietary behaviours. Limitations of the study and directions for future research are discussed.