Understanding the motives for sunbathing and indoor tanning is an extremely important public health issue. Skin cancer rates have increased dramatically in recent years and UV exposure via sunbathing and utilization of sun lamps and tanning beds are considered important risk factors. Motives for sunbathing and tanning salon use have been thought to be related to appearance concerns, yet little research has examined the specific tan appearance attitudes that may contribute to use of these behaviors. Two studies were conducted with the aim of assessing distinct attitudes related to a tan appearance. In the first study items were created based on a review of the tanning literature and incorporation of constructs developed in the body image field, which were subsequently subject to exploratory factor analysis on 149 female university student sunbathers/tanning salon users.

Body image, eating disturbance, and depressive symptomatology have been examined extensively in the general population. The assessment of these variables within the postpartum period has also been a target of recent research. Unfortunately, no existing studies have examined the intercorrelations among these factors in mothers of young children, despite increasing media pressure for moms to maintain a slim, pre-pregnancy body. The current study examined predictors of body dissatisfaction, eating disturbance, and depressive symptoms in mothers of children aged 0-5. Simple correlations were followed by a series of linear multiple regressions incorporating sociocultural predictors alongside covariates identified in the extant literature. Findings suggest that sociocultural factors are significantly related to body image, eating disturbance, and depressive symptomatology in the mothers sampled, and BMI, perceived stress, and current exercise status accounted for significant variance in study outcomes. Limitations, implications and significance are addressed in turn.

Migrant and seasonal farmworkers play a critical role in the U.S. economy, producing food for the American public, while their suffering is often rendered invisible by their existence on the margins of society. The low wages associated with farm labor combined with the largely undocumented status of this population severely limits access to food, housing, and health care, resulting in poor health outcomes. Through the use of a critical anthropological approach, this research examines the social, cultural, political, and economic context of obesity among Latino migrant and seasonal farmworkers in Central Florida. Ethnographic research methods were used to explore perceptions about the relationships between the body, food, and health among Latino farmworkers, contextualizing these cultural beliefs within the broader, macro-level factors affecting health, including immigration, agricultural, and economic policies. Furthermore, this study compares the perceptions of farmworkers with those of healthcare workers that serve this community, examining the implications that conceptions of culture and “cultural competency” have for developing health interventions. The findings of this research reveal that, in contrast to the beliefs of health providers, farmworkers do understand the relationship between health and body size, and do not show preferences for overweight or obese figures. Conceptions of food, on the farmworker interviews indicate an interest for more nutritional information. This suggests a need to develop nutritional information that is culturally relevant for Latino farmworkers. Additionally, however, economic constraints significantly limit farmworkers’ abilities to purchase sufficient and nutritious foods. The combination of economic constraints and varying nutritional knowledge has significant health implications for farmworkers, most notably in terms of the connection to diet-related health problems such as obesity. The implications of these findings indicate that nutritional interventions focused solely on education without addressing the economic and political processes that constrain farmworkers’ agency will have little overall effect on the health of this population. This research, therefore, emphasizes the importance of using a holistic approach to understand the complexity of health and nutritional issues among farmworkers.

Women with an inherited BRCA mutation are at significantly increased risk for breast and ovarian cancer, often diagnosed at an earlier age than sporadic cancers. Prophylactic surgery, with bilateral mastectomy and/or bilateral prophylactic salpingo-oophorectomy, represents an option for risk reduction. The purpose of this study was to explore quality of life, sexual functioning, menopausal symptoms, psychological well-being and satisfaction with risk management decisions for BRCA-positive women ages 21 to 50 (M = 38.4 years), without a personal history of cancer. A web-based, cross-sectional study design was utilized to compare women opting for any prophylactic surgery (n = 160) with those without a history of prophylactic surgery (n = 71). Quality of life (per the Quality of Life Index, Self-Anchoring Striving Scale and Body Image Quality of Life measures) and Psychological General Well-Being Index scores were essentially the same across the entire study sample. While controlling for age, prophylactic surgery (PS) predicted more severe symptoms of sexual dysfunction as measured by the Female Sexual Functioning Index (total score, Desire, Arousal, Lubrication and Satisfaction domains). Similarly, PS predicted menopausal symptoms and sleep difficulties. Women who had not undergone any prophylactic surgery had higher levels of Stigma and lower levels of Mastery, as measured by the BRCA Self-Concept scale. Prophylactic surgery also predicted higher levels of Satisfaction with Decision for hereditary cancer risk management. Findings from this exploratory study provide insight into the quality of life, sexual functioning and psychological well-being for unaffected, BRCA-positive women. Additional research is needed to examine sexual functioning prospectively, to further investigate the potential sequelae of risk-reducing surgery.

According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (2006), the number of cosmetic procedures has increased to over 10 million in 2005, showing a 38% increase from 2000. This increase in cosmetic surgery prevalence is paralleled by a surge in reality cosmetic makeover television programming, such as Extreme Makeover and Dr. 90210. No research to date has assessed the potential relationships between reality media viewership and body image, eating pathology, or cosmetic surgery attitudes. The tripartite model of core influence (Thompson et al., 1999) is presented as a theoretical framework for conceptualizing the link between media influences, internalization, body image dissatisfaction, and outcomes such as eating disorder symptomatology and cosmetic surgery attitudes. The current study examines the relationships between reality cosmetic makeover viewership, cosmetic surgery attitudes, body image, and eating disorder symptomatology in a sample of 2057 college females. Viewership of reality cosmetic surgery shows was significantly related to more favorable cosmetic surgery attitudes, perceived pressure to have cosmetic surgery, past attainment of a cosmetic procedure, overall body dissatisfaction, thin ideal internalization, eating disorder symptomatology, and a decreased fear of surgery. Although the current study is correlational, it provides a framework for future hypothesis testing and elucidates the link between contemporary media influences, body dissatisfaction, eating disturbance, and cosmetic surgery attitudes and behaviors.

The relationship between exposure to media images of ultra-thin models and body dissatisfaction has been documented in numerous correlational and experimental studies. Given the association between body dissatisfaction and negative outcomes such as eating disorders, prevention and intervention programs have sought to minimize the effects of the media on body dissatisfaction by, for example, providing education on the air-brushing techniques used to enhance the thinness of models depicted in advertisements. More recent efforts in Britain and France include the proposal of legislation that would require advertisements featuring hyper-thin models to include a disclaimer. To determine whether the inclusion of a disclaimer versus a warning message would decrease the effects of exposure to such magazine advertisements on body dissatisfaction and intent to diet, female undergraduate students (N = 283) were randomly assigned to one of four groups: (1) disclaimer, (2) warning, (3) model control, (4) car control. Those in the experimental groups were exposed to advertisements edited to include either a disclaimer (i.e., "Retouched photograph aimed at changing a person's physical appearance.") or warning (i.e., "Warning: Trying to look as thin as this model may be dangerous to your health."); those in the model control group were exposed to the original, untouched advertisements, and those in the car control group viewed car advertisements. Results revealed a significant, but unexpected, effect of group on post-exposure body dissatisfaction. The car control group reported significantly lower post-exposure body dissatisfaction than the disclaimer, warning, and model control groups. The effects of exposure to magazine advertisements on intent to diet did not differ by group. Potential moderating roles of trait body dissatisfaction, physical appearance comparison, and internalization of the thin-ideal are examined. Implications, limitations, and future research ideas are discussed.

The impact of self awareness during sexual activity has been widely discussed. However, research has been largely focused on the effects of performance anxiety in male erectile functioning. Based on research linking sexual difficulties to lower levels of body image, it has been suggested that physical appearance concerns may have a similar influence on sexual functioning in women as does men's self-awareness about erectile functioning. On the other hand, research has also shown that in some cases self awareness can improve sexual functioning among women. The role that physical appearance or awareness of one's body specifically may play in female sexual response has received little empirical attention. The aim of the current study was to examine the impact of body image on sexual arousal response to erotica among 48 women with Female Sexual Arousal Disorder (FSAD). Women were randomized to one of two Body Image conditions: Positive Body Image or Negative Body Image. Each woman participated in two sessions: Experimental and Control. In the experimental sessions, participants were asked to adopt and attend to their positive or negative body parts, and a full-length mirror was placed in front of them. Self-reported mental arousal, perceptions of physical arousal, body awareness, body image, anxiety, and cognitive distraction were assessed. Results showed that in the negative and positive experimental sessions, women experienced increased mental and perceptions of physical sexual arousal compared to the control session. Findings were mainly accounted for by levels of body image and body awareness. There were no differences in anxiety or cognitive distraction. Findings suggest that body image and body awareness, whether positive or negative, can result in increased subjective sexual arousal response. / text

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

Black women in the United States belong to several demographic groups that are marginalized and devalued by society (Fleming, 1983; Helms, 1979; Hargrove, 1999). Membership in marginalized groups (i.e., race, gender, or class) and feelings about belonging to such groups may have a significant impact on the identity development of Black women and their body image satisfaction (Turner, 1982; Helms & Richardson, 1997). For groups experiencing multiple sources of oppression, multiple factors should be examined while exploring body image satisfaction (Thomas, Witherspoon, & Speight, 2004). This study examines body image and racial body attitudes of Black women through the constructs of racial identity, feminist attitudes, and socio-economic status (SES). Using several sampling methods, the researcher recruited 164 participants from the student population at the University of Texas at Austin and from predominately-Black local churches. Four hierarchical regression procedures assessed the impact of the predictor variables (racial identity, feminist attitudes, and SES) on the outcome variables (body image and racial body image) as they were added to the equation. Results indicated that racial identity was not predicative of body image attitudes; however, racial identity was predictive of racial body image attitudes. Feminist attitudes did not predict body image, but did predict racial body image. SES was divided into two variables--income, and racial diversity composition of high schools attended by participants. Income levels were predictive of neither body image nor racial body image among this sample of Black women. However, the racial diversity composition of high schools attended by these participants did significantly affect racial body image. Additionally, racial diversity of high schools significantly moderated the relationship between racial identity and racial body image. This study suggests that racial identity and racial diversity of environment is predictive of racial body image. Furthermore, racial features are more salient to Black women and may not be captured on the frequently used body image attitudes measures. / 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