Relationships among perceived body appearance, social physique anxiety, physical self-concept, and dispositional flow state of exercise participants

Abstract

In the recent years, body related perceptions have become very important for both men and women. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the dispositional flow state of exercise participants was predicted by social physique anxiety, perceived appearance, and physical self-concept. The study sample comprised of 137 men (M age = 23.00, SD = 3.14) and 114 women (M age = 23.34, SD = 3.21) exercise participants exercising regularly more than six months at different sport centers and university’s sport centers. The participants have engaged in different sport and exercise types, such as fitness, plates, body building, swimming, team sports, walking, yoga, and capoeira. Participants have been exercising approximately three times in a week. Psychological questionnaires were used to measure the social physique anxiety, perceived appearance, physical self-concept and dispositional flow of exercise participants. A hierarchical multiple regression analysis suggested that social physique anxiety, perceived appearance, and physical self-concept significantly contribute to exercisers’ dispositional flow. Findings suggest that the positive body related perceptions may influence the exercise participants’ flow experience, then, enjoyment derive from the exercise may contribute to maintenance of exercise behavior. Therefore, to experience positive feelings in exercise setting, exercise participants’’ should focus what their bodies can do instead of focusing their physical appearance.