Positive body image is more than just appearance
By Margaret Rogers
Experts are saying that self-worth needs to go further than just appearance. A new study shows that young women 
who have a high level of family support and a limited pressure to achieve the ‘thin is beautiful’ ideal have a much more positive body image.
The study looked at five factors that might help young women to feel more positive about their bodies. This is an age where there is, particularly in Western culture, a high level of discontent with appearance among both men and women which, in turn, can become a risk factor for eating disorders.
The research was conducted by Dr Shannon Snapp of the University of Arizona and her colleagues. It is published online in Springer’s journal ‘Sex Roles’. In a bid to help women at risk of eating disorders, Snapp and her fellow researchers looked at factors that make women more resilient about their body image.
Their work focussed on young women of college age who are commonly experience self-consciousness as they compare themselves to their peers. This is a time in a young woman’s life when she will become involved in social groups and organisations that may put a high value on the way they look.
The researchers focussed on the completed questionnaires from 301 first-year college women. The questionnaire was based on the Choate theoretical model which hypothesizes that family support and low levels of pressure to gain the ‘thin’ ideal are related to the rejection of the ‘superwoman’ ideal, positive views of physical competence and effective stress-busting strategies. The researchers uphold that all of these factors are associated with wellbeing, which is linked to positive body image in women.
The researchers found that young women who have a high level of family support and a low level of perceived pressure from family and friends regarding the importance of achieving a ‘thin and beautiful’ ideal, had a more positive body image. These same women were found to be armed with skills to deal with stress, had a positive physical body image and rejected the superwoman ideal.
The researchers recommend that prevention programmes should be aimed at young women at risk of developing eating disorders. Measures that these programmes should adopt include helping women to evaluate and become comfortable with the many of contradictory expectations put upon them in modern society. They could be taught how to use effective coping skills, foster a positive view of their physical appearance through health and exercise to promote holistic balance and wellbeing.
‘It is particularly important for women to develop a sense of self-worth that is not solely based on appearance, and to build resilience to pressure they may receive from family, friends and the media,’ the authors conclude.
