Body image has been addressed through weight loss, but little research has been done that addresses accepting one' s body. Even less research has been done on the body image concerns of older adults. Adults over age 60 who live in Arizona and spend their summers in Logan, Utah, participated in a body image education at Utah State University. The Body Esteem Scale and the Inventory of Positive Psychological Attitudes were used to measure the effect of the course on the participants. Older adults on average scored as high or higher than did younger older adults on both measurements.
Body image and psychological attitudes were found to correlate. However, the body image course did not produce significant improvement in the body image or psychological attitudes of participants. This may be due to older adults evaluating their body image by function rather than appearance or because body image is disregarded as a component of self-esteem. The demographic characteristics of age, gender, and body size were found to have no impact on body image or psychological attitudes. This may be due to a small sample size, the unique population, and a short-term intervention.
Further research on the importance of body image to older adults who are less healthy--possibly in a care setting--may provide information on the changeability and value of body image in older adults.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UTAHS/oai:digitalcommons.usu.edu:etd-8496 |
| Date | 01 May 1996 |
| Creators | Peterson Hirtle, Amy |
| Publisher | DigitalCommons@USU |
| Source Sets | Utah State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | All Graduate Theses and Dissertations |
| Rights | Copyright for this work is held by the author. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user. For more information contact digitalcommons@usu.edu. |
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