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A descriptive study of skin color and body image among African-American college students

Intraracial discrimination (the color complex), is a process by which members of a race discriminate against one another. This study examined whether perceived views about skin tone impacted body image satisfaction among African-American college students. A descriptive research design was used in the study.
Forty African-American students, from a historically Black university in the southeast United States completed self administered questionnaires to assess various perceptual dimensions of skin color- their own as well as opposite sex preferences, and body image self relations.
The results of the study indicated that there was a statistically significant relationship between skin color and body image of the sample population as it related to their overall body image; r.=.04, p.<.05. There were also significant relationships found among skin color in reference to specific body areas, and dieting habits. Finally, females tended to prefer mates who are lighter than they, while males preferred mates who are their same complexion or darker.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:auctr.edu/oai:digitalcommons.auctr.edu:dissertations-4262
Date01 May 1997
CreatorsPryor, Vanessa L.
PublisherDigitalCommons@Robert W. Woodruff Library, Atlanta University Center
Source SetsAtlanta University Center
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext
Formatapplication/pdf
SourceETD Collection for AUC Robert W. Woodruff Library

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