Traditionally, body image research has focused on young women. However, there are indications of cultural shifts which extend physical appearance pressures to both men and women, as well as to middle-aged and older adults. Two hundred and ten subjects were administered objective body image measures including the Figure Rating Scale, the Body Shape Questionnaire, and the Multidimensional Body-Self Relations Questionnaire, as well as projective measures including the Holtzman Inkblot Technique and the Draw-A-Person. The NEO-Five Factor Inventory and the Social Anxiety Subscale were also used to explore variables which might covary with body image. A 3 X 2 X 2 Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA) was utilized with social desirability as the covariate.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / This study grew out of the general problem area concerning the relationship between psychological factors and response to pain. The specific variable focused upon was body image, broadly defined as a constellation of body attitudes and ways of experiencing the body, two of which -- body anxiety and body boundary definiteness -- were studied intensively. Body anxiety, defined as the degree of concern, conflict or anxiety a person experiences about his body, was measured by the Homonym Test, developed by Secord. This is a word association test involving 75 words which can have either a body or a non-body meaning such as "graft" or "colon". Two general measures of anxiety, theTaylor Manifest Anxiety Scale and Holtzman's adaptation of the Elizur Content Anxiety Scale, were also administered. The second body image variable, body boundary definiteness, was defined as an index of a person's sense of differentiation from the world as a separate, intact entity. It was further considered to be an index of the development of differentiated ego boundaries, reflecting highly developed ego-functioning, and consequently, the capacity to modulate response to stress. In order to measure body boundary definiteness, the barrier score of Fisher and Cleveland was used. This score is based on an analysis of inkblot responses emphasizing protective, containing or concealing features. Three aspects of response to pain were studied; these were pain perception, pain tolerance, and adaptation to pain. Operationally, pain perception was measured in terms of the intensity at which an electric shock to the forearm was judged as "uncomfortable" and the level at which it was judged as "painful ". Pain tolerance was likewise measured in two ways. The first, "unmotivated tolerance level", was the point at which subjects first refused to receive higher intensities of shock. The second, "motivated tolerance level", was the point at which subjects refused to go higher following mild urging to go as high as they possibly could. Finally, adaptation to pain was measured in terms of the amount of increase in each of the pain perception and tolerance levels as a result of repeating the level setting procedure following a period of repeated shocks. The specific hypotheses tested in the study were: 1) Definiteness of body boundaries is positively correlated with pain perception threshold. 2) Body anxiety is negatively correlated with pain perception threshold. 3) Definiteness of body boundaries is positively correlated with ability to tolerate pain. 4) Body anxiety is negatively correlated with ability to tolerate pain. 5) Definiteness of body boundaries is positively correlated with adaptation to pain. 6) Body anxiety is negatively correlated with adaptation to pain. The results, based on a sample of 30 subjects, supported only hypotheses one and three, those involving body boundary definiteness. There were significant correlations between the Barrier scores and painful level, unmotivated tolerance level, and motivated tolerance level. The hypothesized relationship between body anxiety and pain perception and pain tolerance were not supported by the experimental results. Neither of the body image variables was correlated with adaptation to pain as stated in hypotheses five and six. This was seen to be the result of the fact that most of the subjects were highly stable in their judgements about pain and in their ability to tolerate pain. Thus, adaptation did not occur. In addition, it was found that the Holtzman Content Anxiety scores were negatively correlated with the two pain tolerance measures. There was a tendency toward an inverted-U shaped relationship between tvlanifest Anxiety and pain perception level and motivated tolerance level. The results of the study were considered to provide partial support for the assumption that body image variables are relevant to response to pain. / 2031-01-01

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Self-compassion has recently been introduced to Western psychology literature and is defined as a kind, understanding, and nonjudgmental toward oneself (Neff, 2003a). While self-compassion has been conceptualized as a construct that is important to ones overall sense of self, it might also be relevant to more specific self-attitudes, including ones attitude toward the body. Body-related attitudes have received much attention from sport and exercise psychology researchers in kinesiology and it was anticipated that body self-compassion would be relevant to women who exercise, as women often exercise for body-related reasons. The purpose of this study was to explore the meaning of body self-compassion for young adult women who exercise and have experienced a change in their attitude toward their body over time; and to discover the essential structure of the womens experiences. <p>Five women between the ages of 23 and 28 years participated in this study. The women identified themselves as Caucasian and middle-class, were university students, and indicated that they exercised at least four times a week. Each woman participated in an individual interview in which she was asked to describe two instances where she experienced body self-compassion. The womens interviews were analyzed using an empirical phenomenology method (Giorgi, 1985; Giorgi & Giorgi, 2003) to identify the components of the womens stories that were essential to their experience of body self-compassion. A follow-up focus group discussion provided the women with the opportunity to offer feedback on the essential structures. Four essential structures emerged from these interviews: appreciating ones unique body, taking ownership of ones body, engaging in less social comparison, and body self-compassion as a dynamic process. A facilitating structure, the importance of others, also emerged. The findings of this study are generally consistent with Neffs (2003a) conceptualization of self-compassion as they reflect Neffs overall description of self-compassion without merely replicating the three components of self-compassion: self-kindness, common humanity, and mindfulness. <p>The findings of this study provide support for the exploration of more specific domains of self-compassion, such as the body. This study also makes a significant contribution to the body image literature, which has been criticized for being pathology-oriented and for focusing mainly on appearance-related attitudes (Blood, 2005; Grogan, 2006). This study explored a positive body attitude and highlighted the womens attitudes toward their physical capabilities in addition to their appearance. Further research is needed to develop the body self-compassion construct by exploring the generalizability of the essential structures that emerged in this study to broader populations.

Self-compassion has recently been introduced to Western psychology literature and is defined as a kind, understanding, and nonjudgmental toward oneself (Neff, 2003a). While self-compassion has been conceptualized as a construct that is important to ones overall sense of self, it might also be relevant to more specific self-attitudes, including ones attitude toward the body. Body-related attitudes have received much attention from sport and exercise psychology researchers in kinesiology and it was anticipated that body self-compassion would be relevant to women who exercise, as women often exercise for body-related reasons. The purpose of this study was to explore the meaning of body self-compassion for young adult women who exercise and have experienced a change in their attitude toward their body over time; and to discover the essential structure of the womens experiences. <p>Five women between the ages of 23 and 28 years participated in this study. The women identified themselves as Caucasian and middle-class, were university students, and indicated that they exercised at least four times a week. Each woman participated in an individual interview in which she was asked to describe two instances where she experienced body self-compassion. The womens interviews were analyzed using an empirical phenomenology method (Giorgi, 1985; Giorgi & Giorgi, 2003) to identify the components of the womens stories that were essential to their experience of body self-compassion. A follow-up focus group discussion provided the women with the opportunity to offer feedback on the essential structures. Four essential structures emerged from these interviews: appreciating ones unique body, taking ownership of ones body, engaging in less social comparison, and body self-compassion as a dynamic process. A facilitating structure, the importance of others, also emerged. The findings of this study are generally consistent with Neffs (2003a) conceptualization of self-compassion as they reflect Neffs overall description of self-compassion without merely replicating the three components of self-compassion: self-kindness, common humanity, and mindfulness. <p>The findings of this study provide support for the exploration of more specific domains of self-compassion, such as the body. This study also makes a significant contribution to the body image literature, which has been criticized for being pathology-oriented and for focusing mainly on appearance-related attitudes (Blood, 2005; Grogan, 2006). This study explored a positive body attitude and highlighted the womens attitudes toward their physical capabilities in addition to their appearance. Further research is needed to develop the body self-compassion construct by exploring the generalizability of the essential structures that emerged in this study to broader populations.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Bowling Green State University, 2009. / Document formatted into pages; contains xi, 106 p. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis--Cologne. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 150-153).

Thesis (Ph. D. in Psychology)--Vanderbilt University, 2004. / Title from PDF title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis--PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1968. / Typewritten.