Body image preference in the United States and rural Thailand: an exploratory study.

The authors conducted a field study to examine the female body image preferences of young women and young men in a rural northern province of Thailand and in central California. The Thai participants did not have stronger body image preferences than did the U.S. participants overall. However, the young women preferred a significantly more slender body image than did the young men, F(1, 80) = 14.98, p < .001, and the Respondent Gender x Nationality interaction was also significant, F(1, 80) = 4.42, p = .039. Thai men, as expected, exhibited preferences for figures that were heavier than those preferred by their U.S. counterparts. Thai women, in contrast, exhibited preferences for figures that were thinner than those preferred by their U.S. counterparts or their male countrymen. These results are explained in terms of traditional Thai and U.S. values and in terms of Western cultural influences in modern Thailand.     

Aging, body image, and body shape

Participants were 25 older men (M age = 72 years, SD = 10 years) and 27 older women (M age = 71 years, SD = 8 years) who examined multiple line-drawing figures of babies, children, young adults, middle-aged adults, and older adults. Participants picked a number on a Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (very thin) to 9 (very obese) in response to questions including "Which is the most attractive?" and "Which figure would you most like to look like?" They also completed questionnaires about their body image and body shape. In response to the age-specific line drawings (e.g., those depicting older men and older women), older women endorsed thinner figures (e.g., picked smaller numbers) than did men. Likewise, older women reported thinking more about their body shape and appearance than did men and perceived their body image as "a little too big" in comparison with the older men who perceived their body image as "just the right size." However, a breakdown of normal and overweight women in this sample revealed that for some overweight elderly women, obesity could become a satisfactory way of life. Much as with college-aged women, the endorsement of a thinner body image by many of the older adult female participants appeared to persist into late adulthood and suggests that research into body image issues with older adults is relevant and necessary.     

Body Image: Gender,Ethnic, and Age Differences

Abstract

Using figure drawings (E. Fallon & P. Rozin, 1985), 120 male and female U.S. college students–African American, Hispanic, and Caucasian–indicated their current and ideal figures, the figures that they considered most attractive to the opposite sex, and the opposite-sex figures most attractive to themselves. Dissatisfaction with body shape was greater among the women regardless of ethnicity. Both the men and the women misjudged which shapes the opposite sex would rate as most attractive: The women guessed that the men preferred shapes thinner than those that they actually reported. The African American women had the most accurate perceptions of what the men found attractive, whereas the Caucasian women had the most distorted views. The men guessed that the women preferred shapes bulkier than those that they actually indicated. These findings may be relevant to the lower incidence of eating disorders among African American women and the higher incidence of such disorders among Caucasian women.     

Body Type Preferences in Asian and Caucasian College Students

While there is an extensive literature on gender differences in body image, little has focused on ethnic group differences in men's body image. College students ( N = 466) from a prestigious New England university indicated their current and ideal figures. Compared to Caucasians (N = 289), Asians (N = 92) reported smaller current figures. Both Caucasian and Asian women rated their current figure as larger than their ideal. Caucasian males reported no discrepancy between their current and ideal figures. However, Asian males rated their current figures as smaller than ideal. The effect of ethnicity on body satisfaction depended upon gender. For women, the ideal was thinner than current figure regardless of actual size, producing a discrepancy between current and ideal figures for both Caucasian and Asian women. Conversely, Asian and Caucasian men identified a similar ideal, producing a discrepancy between current and ideal figures only for Asian men.     

Body image: gender, ethnic, and age differences

Using figure drawings (E. Fallon & P. Rozin, 1985), 120 male and female U.S. college students--African American, Hispanic, and Caucasian--indicated their current and ideal figures, the figures that they considered most attractive to the opposite sex, and the opposite-sex figures most attractive to themselves. Dissatisfaction with body shape was greater among the women regardless of ethnicity. Both the men and the women misjudged which shapes the opposite sex would rate as most attractive: The women guessed that the men preferred shapes thinner than those that they actually reported. The African American women had the most accurate perceptions of what the men found attractive, whereas the Caucasian women had the most distorted views. The men guessed that the women preferred shapes bulkier than those that they actually indicated. These findings may be relevant to the lower incidence of eating disorders among African American women and the higher incidence of such disorders among Caucasian women.     

Communication With People of Different Ages in the Workplace: Thai and American Data

To test hypotheses about intra‐ and intergenerational communication perceptions, nonmanagerial‐level bankers (n = 348) in two nations (Thailand and United States) self‐assessed their communication beliefs on the Global Perceptions of Intergenerational Communication scale. Communication accommodation theory was used as a theoretical backdrop. Results revealed that older bankers were seen as more nonaccommodating (e.g., more negative, more ordering) than young bankers, though young bankers still felt more obligation to be respectful (e.g., hold back opinions) with older bankers than to their same‐age group. In addition, managers were seen as more nonaccommodating than nonmanagers. Cross‐cultural findings emerged to the extent that Thai bankers perceived others, in general, as less accommodating (e.g., supportive, helpful) and more nonaccommodating than did their American counterparts; hence, workplace conversations were at least partially viewed as more difficult in Thailand than in the United States. Research on religious and philosophical traditions, cultural convergence and divergence, modernity, and workplace homogenization were invoked to interpret the above findings.     

Does hunger influence judgments of female physical attractiveness?

To account for male preferences for female body weight following a consistent socio‐economic pattern, Nelson and Morrison (2005) proposed a social‐cognitive model based on the individual experience of resource scarcity. We replicated their studies showing that calorific dissatisfaction can influence preference for female body weight using a different dependent variable, namely photographic stimuli of women with known body weight and shape. Using this revised methodology, we found that operationalized intra‐individual resource scarcity affects preferences for body weight: 30 hungry male participants preferred figures with a higher body weight and rated as more attractive heavier figures than 31 satiated male participants. Hungrier men were also less likely to be influenced by cues for body shape, supporting extant cross‐cultural studies on female physical attractiveness. These findings corroborate those of Nelson and Morrison (2005) and are discussed in terms of how cultural contexts shape individual psychological experience as predicted by the theory of mutual constitution.     

Understanding the role of gender in body image research settings: Participant gender preferences for researchers and co-participants in interviews,focus groups and interventions

Participant gender preferences for body image researchers, interventionists and focus group and intervention co-participants have been largely ignored, despite recognition that such characteristics can influence the nature and quality of data collected and intervention effects. To address this, Australian women (n = 505) and men (n = 220) completed a questionnaire about their preferences for interviewers and focus group facilitators, for teachers delivering school-based interventions, and for co-participants in these settings. Women predominantly preferred female interviewers and teachers, and mixed-sex co-participants, but most had no preference for focus group facilitators. Body dissatisfied women were more likely to prefer female researchers and single-sex co-participants. Most men did not have specific preferences, however, body dissatisfied men were more likely to report a gender preference for interviewers and teachers. Professional capabilities, personal qualities and appearance were regarded as important researcher characteristics. These findings have important implications for body image research, particularly among high-risk groups.     

Rape Myth Acceptance: A Comparison of Military Service Academy and Civilian Fraternity and Sorority Students

Although both the military and fraternities have been theorized to be characterized by norms and attitudes that serve to legitimize violence against women, no previous work has examined the potential similarity and differences in rape-supportive beliefs of these 2 environments or the people drawn to them. Further, the belief systems of women within these organizations have received little attention. As such, the current study sought to serve as an initial exploration of the rape-supportive belief systems of people drawn to these groups. Participants were recruited from students entering 2 military service academies (U.S. Military Academy, n = 1,169, 1,003 men, 166 women; U.S. Naval Academy, n = 1,916, 1,551 men, 365 women) and fraternities and sororities at a Midwestern university (n = 393, 188 men, 205 women). All participants completed the Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale–Short Form. Consistent with previous findings related to gender, men were more accepting of rape myths than women. Further, there was more variability in the levels of rape myth acceptance among military service academy and fraternity men than among military service academy and sorority women. Although across all groups the women expressed significantly lower levels of rape myth acceptance than the men, women and men from the United States Military Academy were more closely aligned in their beliefs than women and men from the other samples. Implications for sexual assault prevention education are discussed.     

Modernization and sex roles: The status of women in the Thai bureaucracy

Modernization is conceptualized as a change in socially sanctioned roles. This study investigates the repatterning of sex and occupational roles in the modernizing bureaucracy of Thailand. Although Thai women have traditionally participated actively in family and economic life, such freedom and equality with males has not been carried over into modern occupations. Female Thai civil servants have lower positions and are paid less than their male counterparts with comparable preparation and accomplishments; and the females make greater sacrifices in family roles. Yet women express greater satisfaction with their civil service jobs than men. Explanations for these findings are suggested.     

Contextual Influences on Gender Segregation in Emerging Adulthood

To better understand contextual influences on gender segregation in emerging adulthood, we examined the extent to which college students (N?=?285; 178 females, 107 males) from the Mid-Atlantic region of the U.S. nominated same-gender peers when listing their close friends, preferred workmates for projects in English and math classes, and preferred partners for “hanging out.” We used an established, self-report measure to examine the relation between preferences to affiliate with same-gender peers and students’ gender-typed activity involvement (i.e., involvement in activities stereotypically associated with one’s own gender). The majority of close friends nominated by both women and men were same-gender peers, but men nominated relatively more same-gender friends than did women. Workmate nominations for class projects followed gender stereotypes. Women were least likely to nominate same-gender workmates for a math project compared to an English project or to “hang out.” Men were least likely to nominate same-gender workmates for a project in English compared to a math project or to “hang out.” For both women and men, nominating more same-gender friends and workmates was associated with less involvement in activities stereotypically associated with the other gender. The stability of emerging adults’ preferences for same-gender peers across contexts is discussed.     

To Hook Up or Date: Which Gender Benefits?

Hooking up on college campuses has become more frequent than dating in heterosexual sexual interaction. Analysis of the relative benefits and costs associated with dating and hooking up suggest that women benefit more from dating while men benefit more from hooking up. U.S students (150 women, 71 men) at a midsized southeastern university indicated preferences for dating and hooking up across a number of situations and indicated the perceived benefits and risks associated with each. As hypothesized, in most situations women more than men preferred dating and men more than women preferred hooking up. Both genders perceived similar benefits and risks to dating and hooking up; differences provided insight into the sexual motives of college women and men.     

Height preferences in humans may not be universal: Evidence from the Datoga people of Tanzania

Many studies in Western societies have shown that women prefer relatively taller men as potential partners, whereas men prefer women who are slightly shorter than themselves. Here, we discuss possible limitations of previous results within the context of the stimuli used (i.e., differences in the perceived body size of female silhouettes). Our results show that, at least in a Polish sample (N = 231), modified stimuli did not essentially change the observed male-taller preferences. In contrast, we report height preferences in a traditional ethnic group, the Datoga people from Tanzania (N = 107), in which men and women preferred extreme sexual dimorphism in stature (SDS) sets (i.e., men and women chose women much taller or much shorter than themselves). Thus, our data do not accord with the suggestion of a universal preference for taller men, but rather suggests that height preferences may be influenced by cultural, environmental, and ecological conditions.     

The Two Faces of Familism: A Cross-Cultural Research in India and Italy

In the present research, we developed a familism scale comprised of two dimensions, namely support obligations and traditional norms, in order to examine cross-cultural and gender differences in a group of Indian (n = 107) and of Italian students (n = 106). We hypothesised and found that support obligations were judged more important than traditional norms in both groups. Moreover, the Indian participants considered both dimensions of familism more important than did their Italian counterparts. Indian women gave greater importance to traditional norms than Indian men did, while Italian women gave greater importance to support obligations than Italian men did. The social implications of cross-cultural and gender differences in familism are discussed.     

Preference for attractiveness and thinness in a partner: Influence of internalization of the thin ideal and shape/weight dissatisfaction in heterosexual women, heterosexual men, lesbians, and gay men

This study assesses whether characteristics of one's own body image influences preferences of attractiveness in a partner. The role of gender and sexual orientation is also considered. Heterosexual women (n = 67), lesbian women (n = 73), heterosexual men (n = 61) and gay men (n = 82) participated in an internet survey assessing attitudes towards the body and preferences of attractiveness in a partner. Men in particular were found to prefer attractive partners, regardless of sexual orientation. Weight/shape dissatisfaction was found to be a negative predictor for heterosexual men and women. For gay men, preferences were better explained by internalization and weight/shape dissatisfaction. No such associations were found in the lesbian group. Levels of weight/shape dissatisfaction and internalization of socio-cultural slenderness ideals influence expectations of thinness and attractiveness in a partner with this effect being modified by gender and sexual orientation.     

Breast and Chest Size: Ideals and Stereotypes Through the 1990s

This study investigated differences in ideals and stereotypes associated with breast and chest size through the 1990s. Five cohorts of primarily Caucasian participants between 1990 and 1998 completed the Breast/Chest Rating Scale that consists of figures of men and women of varying upper torso sizes and a series of questions related to ideal size, perceptions of others' ideals, and characteristics associated with different sizes. Although the breast size women perceive as preferred by others has increased, the ideal breast size has remained stable for men and women. Men's ideal breast size was consistently larger than the breast size women prefer, and men also preferred a significantly larger chest size. Despite an increasing cultural emphasis on large chest size, there was a significant decrease in the chest size preferred by women across cohort groups. The chest size men think women prefer, however, has increased. Although there was little evidence of changes in stereotypes associated with chest size, the breast size associated with a variety of positive characteristics was significantly larger in 1998 than in 1992. These results are discussed in relation to body image and social implications.     

Gender and Context Differences in Alcohol Expectancies

Abstract

In 2 studies, the authors investigated gender and context effects of alcohol expectancies among U.S. college students. In Study 1, they examined the responses of 771 women and 493 men to the Sexual Enhancement (SE) subscale and the Relaxation and Tension Reduction (TR) subscale of the Alcohol Expectancy Questionnaire (S. A. Brown, B. A. Christiansen, & M. S. Goldman, 1987). They found no gender differences when they controlled for drinking quantity. When they controlled for drinking frequency, the men scored significantly higher on the TR subscale than the women did. In Study 2, also among U.S. college students, 41 women and 21 men first imagined that they were on blind dates or in long-term relationships and then completed the SE and TR subscales. On the SE subscale, the women scored higher in the relationship context than in the blind-date context, whereas the men did not vary between contexts. All the participants also reported more tension-reduction expectancies in the relationship context than in the blind-date context.     

Do representations of male muscularity differ in men's and women's magazines?

Men overestimate the degree of muscularity that is attractive to women, and women overestimate the degree of thinness that is most attractive to men. Consistent with the thesis that sociocultural input influences such body type preferences and beliefs, we postulated that magazines aimed at a male audience would portray a more muscular male body ideal than would magazines aimed at a female audience. Systematic comparison of popular magazines (Cosmopolitan, Men's Health, Men's Fitness, and Muscle & Fitness) revealed that the ideal male body marketed to men is more muscular than the ideal male body marketed to women. We introduce the Physical Trait Overvaluation Hypothesis, which proposes that gender-specific media fuel emphasis on certain body parts in within-gender prestige competitions. The resulting competitive escalation creates a disconnect between the preferences of one gender and the personal aspirations of the other.     

Gender Differences in Body Size Dissatisfaction Among Individuals With Low,Medium, or High Levels of Body Focus

The authors designed the present study to test whether women reported higher levels of body dissatisfaction than did men even when the 2 genders were matched on a measure of degree of body focus. Sixty undergraduates (30 men, 30 women) were screened on attention-to-body-shape scores and divided into high, medium, and low body-shape-focus groups. The participants also completed questionnaires that provided information on age, education, vocabulary ability, levels of depression, and body-image assessment. The groups did not differ (ps > .05) on age, education, vocabulary ability, or levels of depression. However, women in all 3 body-shape-focus categories indicated a larger discrepancy between their real vs. ideal body images (p < .01) than did the men. In the high-body-focus group, there was an 11:1 ratio between women's and men's reported real-ideal body-shape discrepancies. Women showed greater body dissatisfaction than did men, even when the genders were matched on a measure of body focus.     

A Cross‐Cultural Analysis of Imagined Interactions

This study examines imagined interactions (IIs) among young adults in the United States, Thailand, and Japan. A comparison of means across cultures on II characteristics reveals that the Japanese participants have the widest variety of II partners, whereas the American participants are the most self‐dominant in their IIs and demonstrate the most II frequency. As for II functions, Japanese and Thai participants keep conflict alive via their IIs more than the Americans, whereas the Thais utilize the II rehearsal and self‐understanding functions the least. The Japanese participants use the II boldness function, which focuses on escaping from societal norms via one’s IIs, more than the Thais and Americans.