Gender-Differentiated Associations among Objectified Body Consciousness, Self-Conceptions and Physical Activity

The nature of relationships among objectified body consciousness (OBC), a model of physical self-conceptions, and self-reported physical activity were examined in a cross-sectional study with U.S. undergraduate women (n?=?231) and men (n?=?163). As hypothesized, women reported significantly higher levels of OBC body surveillance and body shame than men with no significant difference in OBC appearance control beliefs levels between women and men. Canonical correlation analysis revealed significant and different relationships between the set of OBC variables and the set of physical self-concept variables for women and men. The strength of association between the two sets of variables accounted for 48% of the shared variance for women and 29% for men. The multivariate relationship between OBC and physical activity was non-significant.