The Relationships among Perception of Body Image, a Desire for Thinness, and Dieting Behavior in Young Females in Japan

Tomoki Mase,Kumiko Ohara,Harunobu Nakamura,Chiemi Miyawaki

doi:10.4236/health.2015.71013

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship among body image perceptions, a desire for thinness, and dieting behavior in young females in Japan. The subjects were 302 Japanese female university students (age 19.9 ± 1.4 years). An anonymous, self-administered questionnaire survey was conducted between July and August 2011. The questionnaire clarified the subjects’ physical status, perception about personal body shape, desired body shape, the time frame when they first thought about body shape dieting, exercise habits, and eating behaviors. The results revealed that many of the underweight or normal weight subjects perceived themselves as obese, and often the reasons for the perception of obesity were comparisons with others or with themselves in the past. The scores of EAT-26 in those who perceived themselves as obese were higher than the scores in those who did not. Those who perceived themselves as obese had a desire to become slim, were concerned about body shape at an early age, were concerned about dieting, had dieting experience, and were willing to increase daily exercise. These results indicated that incorrect perceptions about body shape have connection to a desire for thinness and dieting behavior.

Highlights

Undernutrition can cause various physical disorders, such as anemia, menstrual disorders, or osteoporosis [1]-[3]
According to the classification of body shape by Body mass index (BMI), underweight subjects made up 19.6% (n = 54) of the study population, normal weight subjects accounted for 77.8% (n = 214), and overweight subjects accounted for 2.5% (n = 7)
BMI, and ideal BMI were significantly higher in the “perceived themselves as obese” group than in the “perceived themselves as not obese” group (p < 0.001 for body weight and BMI, p = 0.003 for ideal BMI) (Table 2). Those who perceived themselves as obese had a desire to become slim (p < 0.001), were more concerned with body shape in early stage (p < 0.001), were more concerned with dieting (p < 0.001), had more dieting experience (p < 0.001), and had a will to increase daily exercise (p = 0.046), when compared with those who did not perceive themselves as obese (Table 3)

Summary

Introduction

Undernutrition can cause various physical disorders, such as anemia, menstrual disorders, or osteoporosis [1]-[3]. The number of underweight people has been increasing, among the females in twenties in Japan, from 24.2% in 2000 [5] to 29.0% in 2010 [6]. The increase in underweight people has become an important health problem among young females. Underweight or normal weight females often have a mistaken perception of their own body image. More than half of young females think they are fat, they are not fat [8] [10]. This tendency was found during the younger teen years in females [11]-[13]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion