A research report submitted to the Faculty of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Masters of Arts, (Clinical Psychology) Johannesburg, 1995. / In recent years there has been great interest in studying the energy-restrictive eating disorders within sociocultural contexts. Patterns of change in the incidence and prevalence of these disorders appear to reflect social processes involving gender issues and shared cultural values around the female body, South African society is experiencing rapid sociocultural changes, and this raises questions about disordered eating and values our own society. This study investigated body figure preferences and attitudes and behaviours related to eating and body weight. The sample consisted of 125 White pupils and 61 Black pupils in three high schools in urban and periurban areas of Gauteng, South Africa. The schools represent different socioeconomic Environments. One is a private school and one is state school with partial provincial subsidy in an affluent suburb, and one is a community school which is subsidised mainly by donor funding and serves a periurban Community. Black and White pupils reported similar body ideals and levels of discrepancy between their reported actual body figures and their ideal figures, but Black pupils showed significantly greater tolerance of different body figures. both thin and fat. Despite this increased tolerance. However, their scores on the Eating Disorders Inventory were similar to those of the White pupils and exceeded White pupils on perfectionism and maturity fears measures, Amongst Black pupils in the three schools. EDI scores were similar but State school pupils showed more body dissatisfaction and Community school pupils showed more perfectionism; and maturity fear, This suggests that pupils in more disadvantaged school environments are weight-concerned and could still be at risk of disordered eating, the finding is contrary to expectations that private school pupils would show the most disordered eating and weight concern. EDI scores were closely related to body figure preferences, and especially to real-ideal discrepancy which was shown to be a simple but effective measure, A high-scoring subgroup was isolated and this was found to include 14 Black pupils and 22 White pupils, The findings have implications for preventive efforts and for further research, / GR2017

This study investigated the relationship between traditional masculine role norms, body image discrepancy, body appearance schemas, and sociocultural attitudes towards appearance in a sample of 495 Indian South African school going boys, between the ages of 13 and 18 years old. The main objective of this research study was to investigate the interrelationships between these variables in terms of how they relate to the experience of body image discrepancy for Indian males in the context of the regulatory norms and practices of traditional masculine ideology. Also examined were the traditional male role norms associated with the boys’ cognitive body appearance schemata. In addition this study attempted to identify the role played by the portrayal of Indian male somatoforms in Indian cinema on the personal and collective evaluation of masculine appearance for a sample of Indian school boys. The variables of interest were measured using the Masculine Role Norms Inventory (MRNI; Levant & Fisher, 1998), Lynch and Zellner’s Body Figure Drawings (1999), Appearance Schemas Inventory (ASI; Cash & Labarge, 1999), and the Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Scale-3 (SATAQ-3; Thompson, van den Berg, Roehrig, Guarda, & Heinberg, 2004). The above constructs were considered in light of biographical questions which pertained to self-worth, the psycho-behavioural implications of pursuing an enhanced appearance, and Indian cinema. The findings of this study showed how a sample of South African Indian boys are defining and refining a localized masculine sense of self within the broader interplays of South African gender relations and masculinities. Analysis revealed the traditional masculine role norms of status-seeking, heterosexism, anti-femininity, and emotional stoicism, shared positive and significant correlations with body image discrepancy. Nontraditional masculine attitudes were similarly associated with body image discrepancy. Moreover it was shown that the influences of sociocultural attitudes towards appearance, and a more substantial investment in body appearance, were key ingredients for participants positioning an athletically muscular and toned male body as their ethnomorphological and masculine ideal. Finally, concerning trends in steroid and supplement use were illustrated as foremost risk behaviours associated with support for a muscularised, traditionally masculine subjective and normative agenda. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2010.