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.

The mass media project a thin “ideal” female body type (ideal-body media; IBM) onto young women. Sociocultural theorists propose that, through processes of internalisation and social comparison, IBM-exposure promotes negative body satisfaction and unhealthy eating behaviour. In three experiments, I investigated how IBM-exposure affected restrained eaters. Restrained eaters are women who are trying to lose weight by attempting to restrict their food intake. Previous researchers have found that restrained eaters perceive and process body-related information more readily than others do. The literature surrounding restrained eaters’ IBM-related self-evaluations and food intake is inconsistent. Some researchers have found restrained eaters to report positive self-evaluative effects and others have not. Furthermore, the majority of researchers report that viewing IBM triggers restrained eaters’ eating. However, this effect is not always replicated and this might be because restrained eaters have been identified with different restraint scales. To test this idea, I used two conceptually different dietary restraint scales throughout the current experiments: the concern for dieting subscale of the Restraint Scale (RS-CD) and the Dietary Intent Scale (DIS). Furthermore, because some researchers have argued that participants within previous (non-restraint) studies reported negative IBM-effects because they thought that they were meant to be negatively affected (i.e., demand characteristics), reducing these demands was a focus throughout the current experiments. In Study 1, demand characteristics were minimised by employing implicit outcome measures and by incorporating a two-study pre-text to separate the experimental manipulation from the explicitly measured dependent variables. Under the guise of a hunger and memory study, restrained and unrestrained eaters (N = 107) were required to concentrate on a slideshow of IBM- or Control-images for 2-minutes and complete an associated memory test (i.e., advertent attention). Restrained eaters (RS-CD and DIS) exposed to IBM reported negative effects (e.g., mood). However, IBM-exposure did not trigger their food intake in an unrelated taste test with M&Ms. I interpreted these findings alongside control theory. This is the theory that goal-related negative affect encourages increased goal-performance. I reasoned that paying advertent attention to the IBM caused goal-related negative affect, which triggered goal effort (i.e., dietary restraint). This theory was further tested in Study 2. The same manipulation was used in Study 2 (N = 268), which was touted as a study about participants’ personality and task performance. Here, I aimed to test restrained eaters’ implicit approach and avoidance tendencies toward diet and food stimuli. Therefore, a joystick lexical decision task (LDT) was used instead of a taste test. Restrained eaters’ self-evaluations (e.g., self-esteem) were not significantly affected by being in different experimental conditions. However, restrained eaters (RS-CD) in the IBM-condition avoided high-calorie food words during the LDT significantly faster than other participants did. These results (Studies 1 and 2) differed from previous research. This difference was attributed to the high level of advertent attention participants paid to the IBM in my experiments. Therefore, in Study 3, I manipulated participants’ attention levels. Participants (N = 171) were made to believe that the experimental slideshow and LDT were part of a task performance study. Although participants who were assigned to the Inadvertent- and Advertent-Attention conditions were exposed to the same slideshow (IBM- or Neutral-images), the experimenter did not ask participants in the Inadvertent-condition to focus on the slideshow. After this experimental manipulation, participants completed the joystick LDT. Subsequently, they completed a second unrelated study about personality and the five human senses (e.g., taste, touch, etcetera). All participants were randomly assigned to the taste-condition and completed a taste test. Inconsistent with my previous results, I did not obtain significant self-evaluation or LDT results. Furthermore, restrained eaters (RS-CD) who paid advertent attention to the IBM consumed more food than others consumed during the taste test. In comparison, restrained eaters were buffered from this effect if they had paid inadvertent attention to the IBM-images. When comparing these (nonsignificant and significant) results with previous research, it seems that restrained eaters’ IBM-responses are highly specific to environmental and/or experimental settings. I developed a preliminary theory to predict restrained eaters’ behaviour. This theory takes into account participants’ restraint status, restraint success, IBM-related attention and their eating-related attention.

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.

Research has confirmed that many women are dissatisfied with their bodies. Seen from a pastoral perspective, this study examines the women that are dissatisfied with their bodies. An empirical qualitative study was done to evaluate the spiritual women’s thoughts, feelings, causes and effects regarding their bodies. A comprehensive literature study was done to verify the results already found. Social science and theological literature were used to determine the ethology of bodily dissatisfaction, which confirmed that it is multifactorial. A variety of therapeutic aids were studied. Cognitive behavioural therapy appears to be the most effective for the women that are dissatisfied with their bodies. The eight cognitive behavioural steps indicated by Cash were thoroughly explored and the value thereof was confirmed. The therapeutic aids found by means of the study were furthermore researched and confirmed by the Word of God and theological literature. Every woman is an individual with an individual body image and must be approached as an individual holistic being. The six dimensions of Clinebell’s holistic-liberation growth model are important for the woman’s healing process, as well as maintaining a balanced, healthy life. The implications of the research include the six dimensions of Clinebell’s holisticliberation growth model, incorporated in a pastoral counselling method to assist the woman with her healing process. Her relationship with God and positive God-centred thinking patterns ought to be of vital importance to her. By integrating the eight steps of Cash’s cognitive behavioural therapy and the six dimensions of Clinebell’s holistic-liberation growth model, the researcher was able to develop a pragmatic diagram for the woman and therapist as a possible aid in her healing process. The researcher followed the four tasks of practical theology as theoretical framework, as explained by Osmer: · Descriptive-empirical Task – “What is going on?” · Interpretive Task – “Why is this going on?” · Normative Task – “What ought to be going on?” · Pragmatic Task – “How might we respond?” / PhD (Pastoral Studies), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

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.

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.

Thesis (MNutr (Interdisciplinary Health Sciences. Human Nutrition))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Background: Poor body image perception and body dissatisfaction has been found to be a risk factor for eating disorders. Studies have found that signs of distorted body image perception and body dissatisfaction can be detected in children as young as 8 or 9 years old. Aim: The current study served to assess the extent of this problem in Northeastern Johannesburg, South Africa, in order to allow for the necessary intervention steps (e.g. development of school-based programmes) to deal with this problem to be put in place. Method: The study was a cross-sectional analytical study with a descriptive component. Two hundred and four girls (81.37% Black, 15.20% White and 3.43% Coloured or Indian) aged between 96 and 119 months in primary schools in Northeastern Johannesburg were selected for this study using systematic random sampling. They were required to complete a questionnaire about their body image perception and weight control behaviours, as well as undergo anthropometric measurements (i.e. weight and height). Results: This study found that the subjects placed much importance on being thin, with subjects stating that they thought if a girl was thin she would be more popular (63.96%), have better self esteem (69.63%), be more attractive (69.11%), be more feminine (73.80%) and be healthier (66.84%). When asked to identify the girl from a silhouette drawing that most resembled themselves, 45.00% of the subjects were able to accurately identify which girl’s size most resembled their own, whereas 48.50% saw themselves as thinner than they are and 6.50% saw themselves as fatter than they are. In addition, the majority of subjects (69.61%) said that they were very happy with their weight and the majority (74.88%) classified it as “just right.” However, despite these findings, there was still significant body dissatisfaction evident in the group with 50.25% of the subjects wanting to be thinner, 28.57% wanting to be fatter and only 21.18% not wanting to be thinner or fatter than they currently are. Of the subjects participating in the study, 50.98% had tried to lose weight in the past and 28.71% had tried to gain weight. Also, various factors (i.e. media, cultural, family and peer influences), were shown to have a significant influence on the subjects’ body image perception. Other factors such as socioeconomic status and physical activity level had no significant link with the subjects’ body image perception. Conclusion: There is a significant problem with poor body image perception and resultant weight control behaviours in this age group. Clearly, there is a need for body image improvement programmes to be put in place in primary schools so as to prevent preadolescent girls from moving towards a lifetime of suffering with body dissatisfaction or, even worse, developing a life-threatening eating disorder. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Agtergrond: ’n Swak liggaamsbeeld en liggaamsontevredenheid is bekende risikofaktore vir die ontwikkeling van eetsteurnisse. Volgens studies kan tekens van ’n verwronge liggaamsbeeld en liggaamsontevredenheid reeds by jong kinders, van 8 of 9 jaar, bespeur word. Doel: Hierdie studie het gepoog om die omvang van dié probleem in die noordooste van Johannesburg, Suid-Afrika, te bepaal ten einde die nodige intervensiemaatreëls te tref (byvoorbeeld om skoolgebaseerde programme te ontwikkel) om die probleem die hoof te bied. Metode: Die studie is ’n dwarssnit analitiese studie met ’n beskrywende komponent. Met behulp van sistematiese, ewekansige steekproefneming is 204 laerskoolmeisies (81.37% Swart, 15.20% Wit en 3.43% Bruin of Indiër) van tussen 96 en 119 maande uit die noordooste van Johannesburg as proefpersone vir die studie gekies. Die meisies moes elk ’n vraelys oor hul liggaamsbeeld en gewigsbeheergedrag invul sowel as antropometriese meting van gewig en lengte ondergaan. Resultate: Die studie het gevind dat die proefpersone baie waarde daaraan heg om maer te wees. Hulle reken onder meer dat, indien ’n meisie maer is, sy waarskynlik gewilder sal wees (63.96%), ’n beter selfbeeld sal hê (69.63%), aantrekliker sal wees (69.11%), vrouliker (73.80%) en gesonder sal wees (66.84%). Toe hulle op ’n profielskets ’n meisie moes uitwys na wie hulle dink hulle die meeste lyk, kon 45.00% van die proefpersone akkuraat uitwys watter meisie se grootte die meeste met hulle s’n ooreenstem, terwyl 48.50% hulself as maerder en 6.50% hulself as vetter beskou het as wat hulle werklik is. Die meerderheid van die proefpersone (69.61%) was oënskynlik gelukkig met hul gewig en die meeste (74.88%) het hul gewig as “net reg” beskryf. Tog, ondanks dié bevindinge, was daar steeds beduidende liggaamsontevredenheid by die groep: 50.25% van die subjekte wil maerder wees, 28.57% vetter en slegs 21.18% nie maerder óf vetter as wat hulle tans is nie. Van die studiedeelnemers het 50.98% al voorheen probeer gewig verloor, terwyl 28.71% al probeer gewig aansit het. Verskeie faktore (soos media-, kulturele, gesins- en portuurinvloede) blyk ook ’n beduidende impak op die proefpersone se liggaamsbeeld te hê. Daarenteen toon ander faktore, soos sosio-ekonomiese status en vlak van fisieke aktiwiteit, geen wesenlike verband met die proefpersone se liggaamsbeeld nie. Gevolgtrekking: Hierdie ouderdomsgroep blyk ’n beduidende probleem met ’n gebrekkige liggaamsbeeld en gevolglike gewigsbeheergedrag te hê. Daar is duidelik ’n behoefte aan programme om laerskoolmeisies se liggaamsbeeld te verbeter ten einde te voorkom dat preadolessente meisies weens liggaamsontevredenheid ’n leeftyd van swaarkry tegemoetgaan of, selfs erger, ’n lewensgevaarlike eetsteurnis ontwikkel.

Students’ satisfaction is a very important indicator of the caliber of online courses, a learning modality which has escalated in the last decade. Satisfaction, however, is a complex construct and most related studies assume that satisfaction is the opposite of dissatisfaction. An alternative view from the area of organizational psychology was offered by Herzberg, Mausner and Snyderman (1959) who theorized that the factors that lead to workers’ satisfaction are different from those that lead to their dissatisfaction. Therefore, eliminating the dissatisfiers may result in no dissatisfaction but not necessarily lead to satisfaction. This study used Herzberg et al. (1959) theory as a lens to investigate students’ satisfying and dissatisfying experiences in online courses. A total of 624 students were surveyed at a large system-wide Midwestern university regarding their satisfying and dissatisfy experiences in online courses. Data analyses included content analysis, descriptive statistics, and independent samples t-tests. Although some of the online course experiences that students described were associated with both satisfying and dissatisfying categories, some experiences were reported more often as satisfying than as dissatisfying. More specifically, the analyses revealed that recognition, achievement, course flexibility/convenience, asynchronous communication, and synchronous communication may be deemed as satisfiers (motivators), because they were more likely to increase online students’ satisfaction than to decrease their satisfaction. In contrast, online modality, assessment, instructor facilitation skills, instructor directions/expectations, and course technology were deemed as dissatisfiers (hygiene factors), because they were associated with students’ dissatisfying experiences more frequently than they were with satisfying experiences. Based on the study results, the recommendations included addressing not only the hygiene factors but also the motivators. The rationale is that if online course practitioners address only the hygiene factors (such as course technology), this approach could lead students to having only a neutral position in the course, that is, they would be neither satisfied nor dissatisfied. Therefore, online course practitioners should also implement strategies (motivators) associated with experiences that students reported more often as satisfiers (such as recognition for their work and opportunities for achievement in the course).

abstract: ABSTRACT While the cross-cultural literature on body dissatisfaction among Mexican and Mexican-American women has continued to grow, the traditional Latino female gender role of marianismo, sociocultural factors related to ethnic culture and mainstream/American culture ideal perceived discrepancies in body size, and one’s romantic relationship have not been explored with this population in relationship to body satisfaction. The current study included 227 female participants predominantly from a large southwestern university in the United States and a large university in northern Mexico. The study examined differences in marianismo and body satisfaction between 120 Mexican and 107 Mexican-American women, investigated the role of marianismo as a mediator between weight-related teasing and body satisfaction, and explored the relationship between marianismo, Partner Ideal Discrepancy, Ethnic Culture Ideal Discrepancy, Mainstream/American Culture Ideal Discrepancy, Perceived Weight-Related Criticism/Teasing, Relationship Support, Relationship Depth, and Relationship Conflict to overall body satisfaction. Results indicated Mexican-American women endorsed less overall body satisfaction than did their Mexican counterparts suggesting that Mexican American women may be more influenced by societal messages about thinness and beauty than are Mexican women. The findings also revealed a possible trend for marianismo as a mediator between weight-related criticism and body satisfaction. Marianismo and weight-related teasing were found to have a negative relationship with body satisfaction. Multiple regression analyses revealed that Partner Ideal and Mainstream/American Culture Ideal discrepancies accounted for significant variance in body satisfaction. Relationship Conflict accounted for a smaller but still significant amount of the variance in body satisfaction. Ethnic Culture Discrepancy, Relationship Support, and Relationship Depth were not significant predictors. These findings from this study suggest that both cultural variables and romantic relationship variables are related to the body image of Mexican American and Mexican women. These findings have important implications for the adaptation of current etiological models explaining body satisfaction among Mexican and Mexican-American women as well as highlighting the need to consider the role of both cultural and relationship variables in designing clinical interventions for Mexican American and Mexican women coping with body image concerns. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Counseling Psychology 2015

nÃo hà / This study was meant to investigate the discrepancy observed among the theories of the organizational behavior which search for better work for the individuals as well as what happens, in practice, with the employees that carry out technical-administrative activities at the Federal University of CearÃ. The investigation, tried to identify the factors which influence the workâs satisfaction and dissatisfaction, focusing on the variables which explain this process and the way it has been expressed by the worker. In a second moment, it tried to identify the factors of organizational commitment, aiming to confirm the identified results in the first part of the research. Two hundred and twenty three employees were investigated and stratified according to the structure of their positions (supporting, intermediate and superior levels), distributed in nine extracts constituted initially from the work areas, heaped in the same knowledge area, having as reference the organic structure of the university. The objective of that stratification was to identify the different and the common behaviors about the objective of the study. The technical approach used was the survey and the method to select the employees was a random stratified sample. The number of employees used in the sample selection was proportional to the total number of employees in the extract and the analysis of the results was of quantitative predominant nature complemented by the qualitative analysis. The instrument used was a questionnaire outlined in three parts. Initially the research used 64 affirmatives related to the matters of working satisfaction adapted from the instrument of Melià & Peirà (1998) and from indicators construct from a theoretical review made. The second part allowed the study of the human behavior in relation to the organizational commitment. A reduced instrument was used with 28 compromising indicators, adapted from the model of Meyer, Allen and Smith (1993), and from the model of OâReilly and Chatman. The gathering of data allowed an evaluation of the satisfaction and dissatisfaction factors of the employee about the following variables: organization; management and supervision; culture and values; remuneration and safety and finally benefits and rewards; and also the identification of the affective, affiliation, instrumental, normative and reward components of the organizational commitment, each one of these variables contains a set of affirmatives. Seeking a larger reliability of the results, these were analyzed firstly considering each item of the affirmatives being followed by a block of affirmatives, and yet according to the employee level. Results show variations, according to the employeeâs level in the postâs structure and they allow relevant conclusions when it was match some items. However, the results demonstrate a significant behavior of apathy and indifference; greater satisfaction in the variable of work environment and greater dissatisfaction in the variables remuneration and safety; rewards and benefits and higher level commitment of the affective affiliation components. The relevance of this work is justified in the sense of contributing with the administration of the IES in the search of an improvement of the organizational policies and of the level of satisfaction of the employees. / Este trabalho concentra-se em investigar o comportamento do servidor tÃcnico-administrativo da Universidade Federal Cearà e a sua relaÃÃo com a administraÃÃo universitÃria no que se refere à atividade-meio. Tendo como objetivo investigar no comportamento dos servidores os fatores que influenciam na satisfaÃÃo e insatisfaÃÃo e a sua forma de expressÃo, estabelecendo-se, a partir daÃ, uma relaÃÃo com os fatores de comprometimento do servidor com a instituiÃÃo. Para tanto, realizou-se pesquisa bibliogrÃfica referente ao fator humano nas organizaÃÃes que incluiu revisÃo sobre os seguintes tÃpicos: traÃos da cultura organizacional que influenciam o desempenho organizacional, aspectos do comportamento humano relacionados aos fatores de satisfaÃÃo e insatisfaÃÃo e, por fim, o comprometimento organizacional. Foram investigados 223 servidores, estratificados conforme a estrutura de cargos (nÃvel de apoio, intermediÃrio e superior), distribuÃdos em nove estratos constituÃdos a partir das Ãreas de trabalho, aglomeradas dentro de uma mesma Ãrea de conhecimento, tendo como referÃncia a estrutura orgÃnica da universidade. A estratificaÃÃo permite identificar comportamentos diferenciados ou comuns sobre o objetivo do estudo. Com relaÃÃo aos procedimentos metodolÃgicos, trata-se de um estudo descritivo e exploratÃrio; a abordagem tÃcnica utilizada foi o levantamento survey; e o mÃtodo para selecionar os servidores foi a amostra aleatÃria estratificada. O nÃmero de servidores para selecionar a amostra foi proporcional ao nÃmero total de servidores no estrato, e a anÃlise dos resultados foi predominantemente de natureza quantitativa, complementada pela anÃlise qualitativa. O instrumento utilizado foi um formulÃrio elaborado de forma estruturada, delineado em trÃs partes. Inicialmente a pesquisa utilizou 64 afirmativas sobre questÃes de satisfaÃÃo laboral, adaptadas do instrumento de Melià e Peirà (1998) e de indicadores construÃdos a partir da revisÃo teÃrica realizada. A segunda parte permitiu o estudo do comportamento humano em relaÃÃo ao comprometimento organizacional. Nesta pesquisa foi utilizado um instrumento reduzido com 28 indicadores de comprometimento, adaptado do modelo de Meyer, Allen e Smith (1993) e do modelo de OâReilly e Chatman (1986). O levantamento de dados permitiu uma avaliaÃÃo dos nÃveis de satisfaÃÃo e insatisfaÃÃo dos servidores, relativos aos fatores intrÃnsecos e extrÃnsecos do trabalho nas seguintes Ãreas: organizaÃÃo, gestÃo e supervisÃo, cultura e valores, remuneraÃÃo e seguranÃa e benefÃcios e recompensas e, ainda, a identificaÃÃo dos componentes afetivo, afiliaÃÃo, instrumental, normativo e recompensa do comprometimento organiza-cional, em que cada uma destas Ãreas contÃm um bloco de afirmativas. Visando uma maior confiabilidade dos resultados, esses foram analisados primeiramente levando em consideraÃÃo cada item de afirmativas, em seguida, por bloco de afirmativas e, ainda, de acordo com o nÃvel do servidor. Os resultados revelam variaÃÃes de acordo com o nÃvel do servidor na estrutura de cargos e permitem conclusÃes relevantes quando do cruzamento de alguns itens. No entanto, os resultados demonstram um comportamento de apatia e indiferenÃa significativa; maior satisfaÃÃo na variÃvel ambiente de trabalho e maior insatisfaÃÃo nas variÃveis remuneraÃÃo e seguranÃa, recompensas e benefÃcios e maior envolvimento do servidor na organizaÃÃo, com relaÃÃo aos componentes do comprometimento afetivo e normativo.