Gender Differences In Body Satisfaction And Academic Success Of College Men And Women

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Much of the literature on body image focuses on the dissatisfaction of women with their bodies using measures such as self-esteem and attitudes. 1,2,3,4A few studies have found relationships between feelings of failure and lack of success with weight and body image. 5,6Rand et al. investigated body size satisfaction by gender and age and found that 87% found their bodies to be socially acceptable. PURPOSE This study expanded the methods of other studies to investigate gender differences and relationships of current body image (CBI), ideal body image (IBI), body image most attractive to the opposite gender (ABI), and college success (GPA). METHODS Sixty-three male and 79 female undergraduate students (= 20.1 ± 1.75) participated in this study. Students were shown the Stunkard Scale of 9 silhouettes ranging from slender to obese.3 Participants marked the questionnaires according to figures that best represented their “current figure,” “ideal figure,” and the figure “most attractive” to opposite genders. An expert observer was also rating each participant's current body figure (OBI) using the same silhouettes. Satisfaction scores (SAT) were obtained by subtracting IBI from CBI Current GPA was obtained through student records. Silhouettes were merged with a 100 mm scale for measurement. Descriptive and chi-square statistics were computed using SPSS 11.5. RESULTS The women (OBT) were slightly larger than the males. No gender differences were found between CBI and IBI. Gender differences were found between ABI (x2 =3.89, p<.05), OBI (x2 = 7.18, p <.01), and SAT (x2 = 8.38, p <.005). ABI for females was one full body type lower than that for males (=5.34 ± 1.45 and =6.23 ± 1.96, respectively). SAT scores of the females were more variable than those of the males. The only variable that significantly related to GPA was age and as a result, GPA could not be successfully predicted. CONCLUSIONS College men and women appear to be satisfied with their bodies across a wide range of body types with greater variability seen in women. Men think that a larger male is more attractive to females while women feel that a slightly smaller, by comparison, female is more attractive to males. It is possible that strong evidence seen in earlier literature concerning dissatisfaction with body type, especially in women, may be changing.