Women's body images: The results of a national survey in the U.S.A.

This investigation was a representative survey, conducted in 1993, of the body images of 803 adult women in the United States. Included in the survey instrument were selected subscales from the standardized Multidimensional Body-Self Relations Questionnaire, which had been used in a U.S. survey in 1985. The results indicated substantial levels of body dissatisfaction, possibly surpassing levels observed in the 1985 survey. Nearly one-half of the women reported globally negative evaluations of their appearance and a preoccupation with being or becoming overweight. Whereas age effects were minimal, significant race/ethnicity effects were found, with clearly more positive body images among African American than Anglo or Hispanic women. The social and clinical implications of the findings were discussed.