ATTITUDES TOWARD WOMEN's BODY HAIR: RELATIONSHIP WITH DISGUST SENSITIVITY

We aimed to further investigate the "hairlessness" norm that is the common practice of body hair removal among women. A sample of 198 undergraduate students (91 men, 107 women) completed questionnaires asking about attitudes toward women's body hair and the reasons women remove this hair, as well as a measure of disgust sensitivity. It was found that the vast majority (98%) of female participants regularly remove their leg and/or underarm hair, most frequently by shaving, and attribute this to femininity and attractiveness reasons. However, the attributions that they and men made for other women were much more socially normative in nature. For the sample as a whole, negative attitudes toward body hair were related to disgust sensitivity. It was concluded that body hair on women, but not on men, has become an elicitor of disgust and its removal correspondingly normative.     

Social support and psychological well-being in young adults: the multi-dimensional support scale

A large sample (N = 483) of community-living adults (M age = 23.6 years) responded to questions about the frequency and adequacy of emotional, practical, and informational support during the past month from three sources-confidants, peers, and supervisors-using the Multi-Dimensional Support Scale. Factor analysis was used to distinguish meaningful regularities in item responses, and the resulting five scales have high internal reliability. Scores correlated significantly with measures of self-esteem, depressive affect, and psychological disturbance according to the General Health Questionnaire. To investigate what contribution support measures could make to the prediction of psychological well-being, hierarchical regression analyses were carried out with stressors entered first and support scores entered second. As expected, respondents' psychological well-being was related to their level of life stress; however, the addition of social support measures doubled the explained variance in measures of psychological well-being. The support measure with the strongest association with well-being was the frequency of supportive behaviors toward the respondent by close family and friends.     

Spare time use and psychological well-being in employed and unemployed young people

Results are presented from a longitudinal study of school leavers spanning the years 1980–1987. Those who were unemployed in 1987 reported spending relatively more of their spare time doing nothing in particular than those who were employed, although the groups did not differ in their reported use of spare time when they were at school. Also there were no differences in reported spare time use between those employed in satisfactory jobs and those employed in unsatisfactory jobs. As other studies have shown, in the unemployed spare time spent in purposeful activities with other people was positively correlated with psychological well-being. Similar associations were observed in the dissatisfied employed, although not in the satisfied employed. The results suggest that purposeful use of spare time may play a buffering role in coping with the stresses of both unemployment and unsatisfactory employment.     

The effects of uncontrollable and unpredictable events on anagram solving

An experiment is reported which investigated the effects of uncontrollability and unpredictability in an anagram solving task. It was found that performance was disrupted following experience of outcomes which were uncontrollable or unpredictable or both. It was concluded that the effects of uncontrollability cannot be explained solely in terms of unpredictability.     

The effect of school environment on body concerns in adolescent women

The study investigated body figure preferences, eating disorder symptomology, and role concerns in 142 Australian caucasian adolescent girls in two different school environments, both of medium to high socioeconomic status. Girls at a private single-sex school nominated a thinner ideal figure and displayed more eating disorder patterns than their counterparts at a private coeducational school. Although the schools did not differ in role concerns, these had a differential impact on prediction of the ideal figure. In particular, the importance placed on professional success predicted the choice of ideal figure for the single-sex but not for the coeducational school. It was concluded that what motivates the wish for thinness differed between the schools.     

Clothing choices, weight, and trait self-objectification

The present study aimed to assess the link between clothing choice and aspects of body image. Participants were 112 female undergraduate students who completed a questionnaire containing a measure of clothing functions, as well as BMI, self-classified weight, and trait self-objectification. Results indicated that BMI and self-classified weight were positively correlated with the choice of clothes for camouflage. Self-objectification was positively correlated with choice of clothes for fashion, and negatively correlated with choosing clothes for comfort. It was concluded that clothing represents an important but neglected aspect of contemporary women's management of their body's appearance.     

Belly Dance as an Embodying Activity?: A Test of the Embodiment Model of Positive Body Image

The study aimed to test Menzel and Levine’s (2011) embodiment theory of positive body image in the context of belly dance. Participants were 213 women from Adelaide, South Australia. They comprised 112 belly dancers recruited from two belly dance schools, and a sample of 101 college women who had never participated in belly dance. Participants completed questionnaire measures of positive body image, body dissatisfaction, self-objectification, and enjoyment of sexualization. It was found that belly dancers scored higher on positive body image and lower on body dissatisfaction and self-objectification than the college students. There was, however, no difference between groups in enjoyment of sexualization. Importantly, in support of the embodiment model, the effect of belly dance group on positive body image was mediated by reduced self-objectification. It was concluded that belly dance represents an embodying activity, one associated with a number of benefits for its practioners, including positive body image.     

Body appreciation in adult women: Relationships with age and body satisfaction

The major aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of age on positive body image (operationalized as body appreciation) across the female lifespan. A secondary aim was to examine the effect of age on the relationship between positive body image and body satisfaction. Participants were 158 women aged between 18 and 75 years who completed questionnaire measures of body appreciation and body dissatisfaction–satisfaction. A significant positive linear relationship was found between age and body appreciation; that is, older women had higher levels of body appreciation than their younger counterparts. Although body appreciation was positively correlated with body dissatisfaction–satisfaction across all age groups, the association was weaker for older women. The results contribute to a richer picture of women's body image across the lifespan, as well as confirming positive body image as something beyond the mere absence of body dissatisfaction.     

An examination of pre-wedding body image concerns in brides and bridesmaids

This study examined the prevalence of appearance and weight-related concerns in brides (N=347) and bridesmaids (N=122). Participants completed a short questionnaire on their pre-wedding beauty preparation plans at two bridal expos held in Adelaide, South Australia. Over 50% of participants planned to lose weight before the wedding, 40% intended to go on a diet, and around 67% indicated that they planned to exercise more. More than 10% of participants had been told by others that they should lose weight for the wedding. Looking good on the wedding day was seen as extremely important for both brides and bridesmaids, with 'for the wedding photos' the most highly cited reason. These results illustrate the focus on appearance in general, and on weight in particular, surrounding contemporary weddings.     

Female “Thin Ideal” Media Images and Boys' Attitudes Toward Girls

Both boys and girls are exposed repeatedly to “thin-ideal” images in the media, that is, images of unrealistically thin and attractive women. As yet, however, little research has examined the impact of these images on boys. In the present study we investigated the effect of exposure to televised thin-ideal images on boys' attitudes toward girls. The participants were 354 boys aged 13–15 years, who viewed either 20 commercials that epitomized the thin-ideal for women or 20 commercials that contained no such images. They then rated the importance of 10 characteristics, including slimness and physical attractiveness, in their choice of partner or girlfriend. Appearance schematicity, a trait measure of the extent of investment in appearance as the basis for self-evaluation, was also assessed. It was found that schematicity was positively related to boys' importance ratings of attractiveness, slimness, athletic ability, muscularity, and popularity in a girlfriend. Further, boys who scored medium (but not high or low) on appearance schematicity were influenced by the commercials. These findings suggest that the media may have an indirect impact on girls' body image through influence on boys' expectations and evaluations of girls' appearance.