Is the hijab protective? An investigation of body image and related constructs among British Muslim women

Previous studies have reported equivocal findings concerning the impact of wearing a hijab, or Islamic head‐ and body‐cover, on Muslim women's body image. Here, we sought to examine that impact using a larger sample of Muslim women than has been relied upon and a wider range of body image measures. A total of 587 British Muslim women completed a battery of scales assessing their frequency and conservativeness of hijab use, body image variables, attitudes towards the media and beauty ideals, importance of appearance, and religiosity. Preliminary results indicated that 218 women never used the hijab and 369 women used some form of the hijab at least rarely. Controlling for religiosity, women who wore the hijab had more positive body image, lower internalization of media messages about beauty standards, and placed less importance on appearance than women who did not wear the hijab. Among women who wore the hijab, hijab use significantly predicted weight discrepancy and body appreciation over and above religiosity. These results are discussed in terms of the possible protective impact among British Muslim women of wearing the hijab.     

Readiness to accept Western standard of beauty and body satisfaction among Muslim girls with and without hijab

The purpose of this paper was to determine whether there is a difference in the readiness to accept Western standards of beauty in which thinness is an ideal of beauty and attractiveness, as well in body and appearance satisfaction between Muslim adolescent girls attending madrassa and dressing in accordance with tradition, that is to say wearing hijab, and Muslim adolescent girls who do not wear hijab and who follow contemporary Western‐influenced fashion trends. Both of these groups were also compared to a non‐Muslim group of adolescent girls. The sample consisted of 75 Muslim adolescent girls with hijab, 75 Muslim adolescent girls without hijab and 75 Orthodox adolescent girls. The following instruments were used: the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT‐26), the Sociocultural Attitudes towards Appearance Questionnaire (SATAQ‐3) and the Contour Drawing Rating Scale (CDRS). The highest level of body satisfaction (despite this group having the highest body weight in the sample) was evident among Muslim adolescent girls attending madrassa and wearing hijab. They also showed significantly less pressure to attain the Western thin‐ideal standards of beauty than adolescent girls who accept Western way of dressing. Research results indicate a significant role of socio‐cultural factors in one's attitude towards the body image, but also opens the question of the role of religion as a protective factor when it comes to the body and appearance attitude among Muslim women who wear hijab.     

U.S. Muslim women and body image: links among objectification theory constructs and the hijab

This study tested tenets of objectification theory and explored the role of the hijab in body image and eating disorder symptoms with a sample of 118 Muslim women in the United States. Results from a path analysis indicated that individual differences in wearing the hijab were related negatively with reported sexual objectification experiences. Sexual objectification experiences, in turn, had significant positive indirect relations with body surveillance, body shame, and eating disorder symptoms, primarily through the mediating role of internalization. Internalization of cultural standards of beauty also had a significant positive direct relation with body shame and significant positive direct and indirect relations with eating disorder symptoms. By contrast, the direct and indirect relations of body surveillance were significant only when the role of internalization was constrained to 0 (i.e., eliminated), suggesting that internalization of cultural standards of beauty subsumed the hypothesized role of body surveillance in the model. Taken together, these results support some of the tenets of objectification theory with a sample of U.S. Muslim women, point to the importance of internalization of dominant cultural standards of beauty within that framework, and suggest the utility of considering individual differences in wearing the hijab among U.S. Muslim women.     

Religiosity and Self-Esteem of Muslim Immigrants to the United States: The Moderating Role of Perceived Discrimination

The present study investigated the moderating effect of perceived discrimination in a sample of Muslim immigrants (N = 174). Sex differences on perceived discrimination, religiosity, and self-esteem were examined. Results suggested a significant difference between Muslim men and women in regards to measures of religiosity. Men displayed higher religiosity scores. Results also indicated a significant positive relationship between measures of religiosity and perceived discrimination. Our results also provided full support for the moderating role of perceived discrimination. Implications of these findings for psychologists and future research examining these relationships are addressed.     

The Production of Acceptable Muslim Women in the United States

In this article, I explore some of the elements by which Muslim women who wear the hijab in the United States are managed so as to produce and distinguish “unruly” from “good” Muslim female citizens within the context of American liberalism. Unlike the French state, which has regulated both the hijab and niqab through national legislation, the American liberal framework utilizes a laissez‐faire approach, which relies on a range of public and private institutions to determine acceptable public presentations of the liberal female subject. I refer to this form of management as “neoliberalism.” Neoliberal management works in conjunction with popular political discourses and domestic events in ways that alternately contract and expand the boundaries that allow “suitable Muslim women” in the public sphere.     

Preliminary examination of a couple-based eating disorder prevention program

The purpose of the current study was to investigate a new dissonance-based prevention program that is based on the dual pathway model of eating disorders within the context of an individual's romantic relationship. A total of 209 dating couples participated in a couple-based prevention program or an assessment-only condition and completed measures of body dissatisfaction, thin-ideal internalization, disordered eating, negative affect, and relationship satisfaction at two time points (approximately one week apart) and approximately half of the sample completed 1-month follow-up measures. The prevention program significantly reduced several key risk factors for eating disorders such as environmental pressures to be thin, internalization of the thin and athletic ideals, state body dissatisfaction, and actual-ideal body discrepancy. Initial support was found for the inclusion of couples in eating disorder prevention programs as a successful way of addressing the thin ideal and its detrimental effects for women.     

Body Covering and Body Image: A Comparison of Veiled and Unveiled Muslim Women,Christian Women,and Atheist Women Regarding Body Checking,Body Dissatisfaction,and Eating Disorder Symptoms

Although Islam is the fastest growing religion worldwide, only few studies have investigated body image in Muslim women, and no study has investigated body checking. Therefore, the present study examined whether body image, body checking, and disordered eating differ between veiled and unveiled Muslim women, Christian women, and atheist women. While the groups did not differ regarding body dissatisfaction, unveiled Muslim women reported more checking than veiled Muslim and Christian women, and higher bulimia scores than Christian. Thus, prevention against eating disorders should integrate all women, irrespective of religious affiliation or veiling, with a particular focus on unveiled Muslim women.     

Gender Differences in Parental Influences on Adolescent Body Dissatisfaction and Disordered Eating

This study explored gender differences in the relationship between parental influences and body dissatisfaction and disordered eating among offspring. Participants were 221 male and 380 (63%) female French high school students of mean age 16 (SD?=?.95) years old, from the Toulouse area, who completed a survey exploring parental influences, body dissatisfaction, drive for thinness and bulimic symptoms. Girls (compared to boys) perceived more maternal comments regarding both their own weight and shape, and the importance of physical appearance. Parental variables explained a larger amount of the variance in girls’ body dissatisfaction and disordered eating (compared to boys’). Findings support both a cumulative model and a gender-linked model of transmission of attitudes and behaviors related to shape and eating.     

Mobilizing the hijab: Islamic identity negotiation in the context of a matchmaking website

• This article explores the intended use and meaning of the hijab as a personal branding tool for Muslim users of an online matchmaking service. We analyze the motivations of male and female Muslim consumers for mobilizing the symbolism of the hijab as they construct online identities. We ask whether including information about ‘willingness to wear the hijab’ is motivated primarily by a desire to comply to normative rules of conduct or by an instrumental attitude driven by a desire to effectively build and communicate a personal online brand. Our results indicate that the meaning of the hijab is not fixed and uncontested but is dependent on the historical and social context of insertion. In the context of an online matchmaking site, the motivation to mobilize the hijab is predominantly instrumental. In addition, women are more likely to use the hijab for personal branding than men, whose motivation to mobilize the veil's cultural and traditional symbolism prevails. In accordance with previous research, we find that a higher degree of education reduces the likelihood of men and women to use the hijab in order to conform to community norms.

Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Who Wears the <Emphasis Type="Italic">Hijab</Emphasis>? Predictors of Veiling in Greater Jakarta

Indonesia is home to the world’s largest Muslim population. In contrast to much of the Middle East, veiling in Indonesia is neither a deeply rooted cultural practice, nor it is universally practised among Muslim women. Just 30 years ago it was rare to see an Indonesian woman wearing a hijab or veil. Today, veiling has become a relatively common practice, particularly among middle-class Muslim women living in urban areas. Although statistics on the prevalence of veiling are scant, the fact of growing use of headscarves is widely accepted in the literature. This paper examines sociodemographic correlates of veiling among young women in the capital region of Indonesia. We analyse a representative sample of 1443 Muslim women aged 20–34 in Greater Jakarta in 2010. About 26% of the women surveyed wore the veil. We found a moderately strong association between veiling and other measures of religiosity, including self-reported subjective religiosity and frequency of reading religious texts. Our multivariate analysis suggests a positive association between educational attainment and the likelihood of veiling among young Muslim women. In discussing these findings, we draw upon the qualitative component of our study and the literature on Islam, gender, and modernity in Indonesia. The paper highlights the difficulty encountered examining the practice of veiling as a binary choice, and as a measure of religiosity.     

An exploration of the tripartite influence model of body dissatisfaction and disordered eating among Australian and French college women

The aim of the study was to compare levels of body dissatisfaction, disordered eating and risk factors, and to examine the tripartite influence model of body image and eating disturbance among French and Australian young adult females. Participants were 188 Australian (mean age=19.6 years, SD=1.0) and 190 French (mean age=20.7 years, SD=2.6) students. Media, peer and family influences, internalisation of media ideals, appearance comparison, body dissatisfaction, drive for thinness, bulimia and self-esteem were assessed. Australian participants reported perceiving more peer and media influence, and higher levels of appearance comparison, internalisation of media ideals and bulimic symptoms than French participants (p<.001). Path analyses revealed that the tripartite model was a good fit in both samples, with similarities and differences. Findings suggest the importance of identifying cultural specificities, and developing a global framework of body image and eating disturbance with a view to prevention.     

Clustered Patterns of Behavioral and Health-Related Variables Among Young Lesbian Women

Lesbian women are at increased risk for a variety of mental and physical health problems compared to heterosexual women. In order to inform treatment and prevention, the purpose of this study was to examine behavioral and health-related patterns among lesbian women and elucidate how these patterns are associated with general discrimination, sexual minority stress, affect, and social support. A sample of self-identified lesbian women (N = 436) completed an online survey from August 2014–March 2015. A latent profile analysis was conducted using measures of body mass index, hazardous alcohol use, binge eating, eating disorder risk, and exercise as indicators. A 5-class solution best fit the data and included two healthy groups: (a) low health risk, moderate exercise (54%), (b) low health risk + high exercise (22%); and three unhealthy risk groups: (c) obese + binge eating (14%); (d) disordered eating + hazardous alcohol use (5%); (e) disordered eating + high exercise (5%). The three unhealthy classes generally reported more general discrimination, sexual minority stress, social anxiety, negative affect, and lower social support compared to the healthy classes. These findings show that behavioral and health-related variables cluster together in several distinct patterns among lesbian women. In addition, general discrimination and sexual minority stress and associated psychosocial functioning may be related to these maladaptive behavioral and health-related patterns and may be important to consider in behavioral interventions.     

Body dissatisfaction, ethnic identity, and disordered eating among African American women

Initial research suggested that only European American women developed eating disorders (Garner, 1993), yet recent studies have shown that African American women do experience them (e.g., Lester & Petrie, 1998b; Mulholland & Mintz, 2001) and also may be negatively affected by similar sociocultural variables. In this study, we examined a sociocultural model of eating disorders for African American women but included the influences of ethnic identity (e.g., Hall, 1995; Helms, 1990). Participants (N = 322) were drawn from 5 different universities. They completed measures representing ethnic identity, societal pressures regarding thinness, internalization of societal beauty ideals, body image concerns, and disordered eating. Structural equation modeling revealed that ethnic identity was inversely, and societal pressures regarding thinness directly, related to internalization of societal beauty ideals. Societal pressures regarding thinness was also related to greater body image concerns. Both internalization of societal beauty ideals and body image concerns were positively associated with disordered eating (R2 = .79). Overall, the final model fit the data well, supporting its generalizability and the importance of ethnic identity in determining risk.     

The Influence of Television and Film Viewing on Midlife Women's Body Image,Disordered Eating,and Food Choice

A recent trend in screen media is the casting of older women who have bodies that are the shapes and sizes of younger women. These aging beauties can be found in shows such as Cougar Town and Desperate Housewives. It was predicted that heavy viewers of these media would report stronger eating disorder symptomatology, greater body ideal discrepancies, and stricter food choices than light viewers. Participants were 166 midlife women (M: 44.57 years) who completed an online questionnaire that asked about body ideals, disordered eating, food choices, and exposure to aging beauty programming. Results demonstrate that media exposure was associated with stronger reports of disordered eating, greater discrepancies between actual body size and both women's ideal body size as well as perceptions of how others wanted them to look, and stricter food choices when around other people. Ideal self-discrepancies mediate the association between aging beauty media and disordered eating symptomatology. Our study builds on extant work related to media consumption, body concerns, and eating behaviors among a non–college-aged sample.     

DISORDERED EATING AND PERCEPTIONS OF CHILDHOOD ABUSE AMONG WOMEN IN A PRIMARY CARE SETTING

Research has demonstrated links between sexual abuse and disordered eating among women in college student and mental health samples. Little is known about such relationships among women from other samples or the relationship between other forms of childhood abuse as well as disordered eating (vomiting, starvation, laxative abuse). Prevalence of disordered eating was significantly higher among women who indicated a perceived childhood history of sexual, physical, or emotional abuse or who had personally witnessed violence.     

Body dissatisfaction,disordered eating,fashion magazines,and clothes: A cross‐cultural comparison between Australian and Italian young women

While a great deal of research has investigated the body image concerns of women in Western English‐speaking countries, there has been relatively little research attention paid to non‐English‐speaking countries. The present study aimed to investigate body dissatisfaction and disordered eating across similarly constituted samples from two different cultures, Australia and Italy. Australia and Italy are similar in many ways, including frequent and obvious portrayals of thin media ideals for women, but represent very different cultures with respect to language and the roles of the family, meals, and fashion. Questionnaires were developed to assess the internalization of thin ideals, fashion magazine exposure, and the importance of clothes, in addition to containing measures of body dissatisfaction, dieting, and disordered eating symptomatology. Factor analysis of the clothing measure produced two clear factors: the personal importance of clothes, and the social importance of clothes. The questionnaires were completed by 140 Australian and 95 Italian female university students of psychology or the humanities. It was found that the Italian women had significantly lower BMI scores than the Australian women because they weighed less. Few group differences in body dissatisfaction or dieting were obtained, but the Australian women scored higher than the Italian women on disordered eating. Contrary to prediction, clothes were rated as more important by Australian than by Italian women. Nevertheless, the personal importance of clothes predicted internalization of thin ideals and body dissatisfaction in both samples, while the social importance of clothes was a negative predictor. Fashion magazine consumption, in contrast, predicted body dissatisfaction and disordered eating only for Australian women, but not for Italian women. Thus the study has demonstrated that the same variables may play different roles in the Australian and Italian cultural contexts. More generally, the cross‐cultural comparison of relationships between variables may contribute to a greater understanding of the genesis of body image concerns across cultures.     

Self-Oriented Body Comparison and Self-Compassion: Interactive Models of Disordered Eating Behaviors Among Postpartum Women

Evidence suggests self-oriented body comparison (comparison of one’s postpartum body shape and weight to one’s prepregnant body shape and weight) is a critical factor associated with increased levels of disordered eating during the postpartum period. However, some postpartum women adopt a self-compassionate and acceptance-based perspective toward their body shape and weight changes. It is unclear whether self-compassion may buffer the associations between self-comparisons and disordered eating behaviors among postpartum women, which is the aim of the current study. A total of 306 postpartum women who gave birth in the past year completed an online survey asking about self-compassion, social comparison, broad eating pathology, dietary restraint, and binge eating. Results indicated that self-compassion appeared to buffer the associations between self-comparison and broad eating pathology and binge eating among postpartum women, such that for women with above-average levels of self-compassion, the associations between self-comparison and disordered eating was weaker than for women with average or below-average levels of self-compassion. Findings suggest self-compassion could be a potential target for intervention programs.     

Perceptions and metaperceptions of same-sex social interactions in college women with disordered eating patterns

This study compared perceptions and metaperceptions after a social interaction between a woman with disordered eating (subclinical bulimia nervosa) and a female interaction partner. Hypotheses were: women with disordered eating would have more negative metaperceptions of social interactions than women without disordered eating, and women with disordered eating would show a greater discrepancy between metaperceptions and perceptions than women without disordered eating. All participants completed questionnaires about their perceptions and metaperceptions post-interaction. Results showed women with disordered eating thought that they had made a negative impression; findings addressing the relationships among social desirability, loneliness, social support utilization, and fear of negative evaluation are also discussed.     

The Role of Self-Objectification in the Experience of Women with Eating Disorders

Objectification theory has linked self-objectification to negative emotional experiences and disordered eating behavior in cultures that sexually objectify the female body. This link has not been empirically tested in a clinical sample of women with eating disorders. In the present effort, 209 women in residential treatment for eating disorders completed self-report measures of self-objectification, body shame, media influence, and drive for thinness on admission to treatment. Results demonstrated that the internalization of appearance ideals from the media predicted self-objectification, whereas using the media as an informational source about appearance and feeling pressured to conform to media ideals did not. Self-objectification partially mediated the relationship between internalized appearance ideals and drive for thinness; internalized appearance ideals continued to be an independent predictor of variance. In accordance with objectification theory, body shame partially mediated the relationship between self-objectification and drive for thinness in women with eating disorders; self-objectification continued to be an independent predictor of variance. These results illustrate the importance of understanding and targeting the experience of self-objectification in women with eating disorders or women at risk for eating disorders.     

Disordered eating and sex role characteristics in young women: Implications for sociocultural theories of disturbed eating

The sociocultural model of disordered eating proposed by Boskind-White and White (1986) predicts that women with disordered eating will be high in feminine characteristics, while that of Steiner-Adair (1986) predicts they will ascribe to high levels of masculine traits in their ideal woman and perceive a greater discrepancy between their actual and ideal masculine characteristics. To test these predictions 149 women completed questionnaire assessing sex role characteristics and eating attitudes. Positive correlations were found between measures of disordered eating and the extent to which women believed they possessed negative feminine characteristics. There was a greater discrepancy between self and ideal masculine positive scores in subjects with greater eating disturbances. Aspects of sociocultural models of disordered eating receive support from the data.