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130 Ps i Ch i Jo u r n a l o f un d e r g r a d u a t e re s e a r C h | fa l l 2010
Copyright 2010 by Psi Chi, The International Honor Society in Psychology (Vol. 15, No. 3/ISSN 1089-4136)
Body Image Perceptions:
Do Gender Differences Exist?
Despite the large volume of research on body image, few studies have directly
compared body image perceptions of men and women. Do men and women
experience body image dissatisfaction in the same ways? Do similar factors predict
negative body image perceptions in men and women? Is body image dissatisfaction
associated with the same consequences regardless of gender? This study investigated
these questions. One hundred ninety-seven undergraduate students completed an
online survey that assessed their body image experiences and self-perceptions (i.e.,
body esteem, body mass index, self-esteem, sociocultural and situational factors,
and body image perceptions in sexual contexts). Data analysis compared the
responses of male and female participants. Several gender differences were found;
body dissatisfaction was more common and felt more strongly in women, yet men
were also clearly affected by body dissatisfaction.
North American society puts a strong emphasis
on physical appearance. People who are
deemed attractive are often viewed more
favorably than unattractive people. They are thought
to be smarter, and more commendable than their
less attractive peers. This assumption is called the
halo effect (Thorndike, 1920); people who are rated
highly on one dimension (attractiveness) are assumed
to excel on others as well (intelligence). This is also
referred to as the “what-is-beautiful-is-good” stereotype
(Solomon, Zaichkowsky, & Polegato, 2005). In our
society, attractiveness is associated with being thin
for women, whereas a more muscular appearance is
considered attractive for men. Appearance ideals are
often unattainable for the average person, and may
be becoming more difficult to meet as the population
is becoming heavier (Statistics Canada, 2002). The
disparity between “real” and “ideal” size is increasing.
How do people respond to this disparity? It
appears that many individuals respond by feeling badly
about their bodies and themselves, and subsequently
they develop a negative body image. Body image is
a subjective and multidimensional construct (Cash,
Morrow, Hrabosky, & Perry, 2004). It encompasses an
individual’s self-perceptions and attitudes about his
or her physical appearance. The two main aspects of
body-image attitudes are evaluation and investment.
Evaluation refers to the evaluative thoughts and beliefs
that one has about one’s body (Morrison, Kalin, & Mor-
rison, 2004). Body image investment is the cognitive,
behavioral, and emotional importance attributed to
the body in self-evaluation (Cash & Pruzinsky, 2002).
It is useful to view body image as a continuum, rang-
ing from no body image disturbance to extreme body
image disturbance (Thompson, Heinberg, Altabe, &
Tantleff-Dunn, 1999). Another way of conceptualizing
how one feels about one’s body is called body esteem,
which involves an individual’s self-evaluation of his or
her physical appearance (Mendelson, White, & Men-
delson, 2001).
It has been argued that mass media is a key factor in
the development of body image dissatisfaction (Morri-
son et al., 2004; Morrison, Morrison, & Hopkins, 2003).
According to sociocultural theory, the more often an
individual is exposed to mass media containing ideal-
istic representations of the body, the less favorable an
individual’s body image evaluations will become. The
sociocultural theory purports that mass media influ-
ences an individual’s perceptions of what the ideal body
is, and bodies that do not match this ideal are therefore
thought to be unattractive (Morrison et al., 2003). Thus,
awareness and internalization of society’s appearance
standards may contribute to body image dissatisfaction
(Matz, Foster, Faith, & Wadden, 2002).
The sociocultural theory, however, does not explain
why some people are affected by media messages,
whereas others are not. Social comparison theory
states that individuals are driven to evaluate themselves
through the use of social comparison (Morrison et al.,
2004).
Research suggests that scrutinizing one’s self in
comparison to those who are less attractive positively
Ma g g i e a. Br e n n a n
Ch r i s t o P h e r e. la l o n d e
Jo d y l. Ba i n
University of Victoria
*
*Faculty mentor
fa l l 2010 | Ps i Ch i Jo u r n a l o f un d e r g r a d u a t e re s e a r C h 131
Copyright 2010 by Psi Chi, The International Honor Society in Psychology (Vol. 15, No. 3/ISSN 1089-4136)
affects self-perceptions. Conversely, comparing oneself
to those who are more attractive negatively affects self-
perceptions (Morrison et al., 2004). Therefore, to whom
one compares oneself is an important determinant of
one’s level of body image satisfaction. Furthermore,
believing oneself to be acceptably attractive may be
more adaptive than actually being considered attractive
by others. How others perceive the individual’s attrac-
tiveness appears to be less important for an individual’s
body esteem than how the individual perceives him- or
herself (Noles, Cash, & Winstead, 1985). This suggests
that people’s perceptions of their appearance are more
relevant to how they feel about themselves and their
bodies than how closely they actually resemble societal
appearance ideals. A recent study (Johnstone et al.,
2008) supports this notion. Lean participants more
accurately assessed their body shape than did obese
participants, but they were not more satisfied with
their appearance. This suggests a cognitive-evaluative
dysfunction, where individuals can accurately estimate
their size or shape, but are still dissatisfied with their
bodies (Cash & Brown, 1987; Gardner, 1996).
Unfortunately most people experience mild to
moderate body image dissatisfaction (Thompson et
al., 1999). People deal with body image dissatisfaction
in a wide variety of ways. A common way of coping is
to restrict the number of calories consumed. At any
given time, 70% percent of women and 35% of men
are dieting (Canadian Mental Health Association,
2003). Some individuals resort to extreme forms of
caloric intake restriction or develop eating disorders
(Stice, 2002). Other ways of coping include excessive
exercise, cosmetic surgery, and using diet pills, steroids,
or protein supplements.
Not only does body image dissatisfaction affect
one’s behaviors, it also affects how one feels about
oneself. It is associated with depression (Noles et al.,
1985), low self-esteem (Mendelson et al., 2001), feelings
of shame (McKinley & Hyde, 1996), body surveillance
(McKinley & Hyde), diminished quality of life (Cash &
Fleming, 2002), and anxious self-focus and avoidance
of body exposure during sexual activity, which can
lead to impaired sexual functioning (Cash, Maikkula,
& Yamamiya, 2004).
Historically, research on body image dissatisfaction
has portrayed it as an issue that exclusively or predomi-
nantly affects women. Recent research suggests that the
past studies of body image among men were flawed. It
was assumed, for example, that body image concerns
among men (like those of women) stemmed from per-
ceived excess weight. More recently, studies have been
conducted with both men and women using a figure
rating scale, where participants rated which figures they
actually looked like, wanted to look like, and believed
the opposite sex found most attractive. Men perceived
themselves to be more overweight and more muscular
than they actually were. They also believed that the male
body women perceived to be the most attractive was
significantly more muscular than the actual ideal male
body that the women chose (Olivardia, Pope, Borow-
iecki, Cohane, 2004). Research demonstrated that
women tended to overestimate their weight/figure size,
and underestimate what they thought the male’s ideal
female figure was (Fallon & Rozin, 1985). The research
with figure rating scales suggests that men’s body image
concerns stem from a perceived lack of muscle, whereas
women’s stem primarily from perceived excess weight.
These findings are consistent with media messages that
emphasize a thin ideal for women (Morrison et al.,
2003), while promoting a V-shaped figure for men, with
emphasis on having a larger, more muscular upper body
(Furnham, Badmin, & Sneade, 2002). Several studies
corroborate perceived lack of muscle as being a more
pivotal factor in male body image dissatisfaction than
excess fat (Cafri & Thompson, 2004; Olivardia et al.,
2004; Pope, Olivardia, Gruber, & Borowiecki, 1999).
This research calls into question the validity of previous
studies; it appears that body image dissatisfaction was
not actually the construct being measured, but rather
weight dissatisfaction.
While it is now known that men are also affected
by body image dissatisfaction, the literature continues
to demonstrate that women suffer from higher rates of
discontentment with their bodies and that this discon-
tentment negatively impacts their lives, more so than
male body image concerns affect men (Johnstone et
al., 2008; Mendelson et al., 2001). Cash, Morrow et al.,
(2004) conducted a cross-sectional investigation of
body image satisfaction among male and female college
students across a 19-year period. They found that body
image dissatisfaction rates of the female participants
worsened and then improved over time. The research-
ers also found that male body image dissatisfaction
rates were stable over time. This finding contradicts
other studies which have shown that body image dis-
satisfaction is on the rise in men (Cash, 2002; Olivardia
et al., 2004). It has been suggested that the ideal male
body portrayed in the media is becoming as difficult
for typical men to attain as the ideal female body is
for typical women to attain. For example, Pope et al.
(1999) found that action figures illustrated evolving
ideals of male bodies. Toys like G.I. Joe are becoming
more muscular and, when converted to human size, G.I.
Joe’s body is as unattainable for boys as Barbie’s body
is for girls. Similar to the research done with women,
research has also found that body image dissatisfaction
in men is associated with low self-esteem, depression,
and eating pathology (Olivardia et al., 2004).
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Bo d y iM a g e Pe r C e P t i o n s | Brennan, Lalonde, and Bain
The current study will avoid issues with construct
validity by using a battery of tests to assess body image
concerns in men and women and including measures
that assess male muscle satisfaction, as well as weight
satisfaction. This is in line with suggestions by Olivardia
et al. (2004) who suggest that existing research is lim-
ited because researchers only investigate one or two
aspects of body image. They suggest a comprehensive
assessment of body image by using a number of differ-
ent measures, as well as investigating a larger sample
of men.
The Present Study
While research demonstrates that men and women
share some similarities with regard to body image
perceptions and body image dissatisfaction, there are
important gender differences. More research needs to
be done in order to gain a comprehensive understand-
ing of these differences. The present study expands on
existing research because it involves a more comprehen-
sive analysis of the similarities and differences in body
image dissatisfaction in men and women. The present
study compares the sexes across several measures of
body image dissatisfaction. It not only explores whether
body image dissatisfaction is experienced differently by
women and men, but it also investigates whether these
experiences impact the sexes differently. The present
study also uses measures that were norm-referenced for
both male and female participants, comparing body
image perceptions of male and female undergraduate
students. We explored body image perceptions using
a battery of assessments to examine differences in risk
factors for, manifestation of, and consequences of body
image dissatisfaction in men and women.
Hypotheses
This study was designed to test six hypotheses. The
first three are based on the finding that more women
than men experience some degree of body image dis-
satisfaction, and women tend to have a higher degree
of body image dissatisfaction than men (Mendelson
et al., 2001).
Our first hypothesis was that men would have
higher body esteem scores than women and therefore
women would report a lower quality of life due to
negative body image perceptions. Body image dissatis-
faction is positively correlated with depression (Noles
et al., 1985) and negatively correlated with self-esteem
(Mendelson et al., 2001), both of which have a nega-
tive impact on quality of life. The fact that women suf-
fer from higher levels of body image dissatisfaction
(Johnstone et al., 2008) suggests that their quality of
life would be more adversely affected by their body
image perceptions.
The second hypothesis predicts that women would
experience negative body image perceptions in more
situations than men. Knowing that women experience
body image dissatisfaction more frequently than men, it
is likely that they also experience more cross-situational
body image dysphoria.
The third hypothesis was that women would show
a higher frequency of negative body image experiences
during sexual activity than men, but regardless of
gender, lower body esteem scores would be correlated
with negative body image perceptions during sex. Body
image dissatisfaction correlates with anxious self-focus
and avoidance of body exposure during sexual encoun-
ters (Cash, Maikkula, & Yamamiya, 2004). Thus we
expected that women would experience more negative
body image perceptions during sexual activity because
they suffer from higher rates of discontentment with
their bodies, but that this relationship would also be
found in men who experience body image dissatisfac-
tion.
The next two hypotheses are based on research
findings suggesting that body image dissatisfaction is
associated with low self-esteem (Mendelson et al. 2001),
awareness of and internalization of society’s appearance
standards (Matz et al., 2002), and body shame and
body surveillance (McKinley & Hyde, 1996), as well as
on Taylor’s (2003) theory that people can cope more
effectively with stress when they feel that they can exert
control over stressful events. Our fourth hypothesis
was that self-esteem and body esteem would be nega-
tively correlated for both men and women. The fifth
hypothesis was that women would show higher rates of
awareness and internalization of sociocultural appear-
ance standards than men, as well as higher rates of body
image shame and surveillance; whereas men would
show higher control beliefs about their appearances.
The last hypothesis is based on research that sug-
gests that the media emphasizes a thin ideal for women,
but not for men (Morrison et al., 2003). Body image
dissatisfaction is related to a perceived lack of muscle in
men and to a perceived excess weight in women (Cafri
& Thompson, 2004). Therefore, our fifth hypothesis
asserted that underweight men would be less satisfied
with their appearances than underweight women.
Method
Participants
The participants in this study were undergraduate
students attending a large metropolitan university in
Canada who were enrolled in Psychology 100 courses.
Data were collected from 210 students, but data from
13 of the students were dropped from the study due
to technical problems with the online survey, resulting
in a final sample size of 197 participants. The partici-
fa l l 2010 | Ps i Ch i Jo u r n a l o f un d e r g r a d u a t e re s e a r C h 133
Copyright 2010 by Psi Chi, The International Honor Society in Psychology (Vol. 15, No. 3/ISSN 1089-4136)
pants ranged from 17 to 40 years of age (M = 19.30,
SD = 3.14), and consisted of 98 men and 97 women.
All participants spoke English as their first language.
Participants were selected from the university’s research
participation system, and each student received one
credit towards a psychology class for completing the
survey. All procedures were approved by the university’s
Ethics Review Board.
Measures
All participants completed an online survey that con-
sisted of an assessment battery of seven instruments
and demographic information including participants’
age, sex, native language, and a self-report of height
and weight. Stice and Bearman (2001) found that
self-reports of height and weight correlate strongly
with measurements taken by research assistants, with
correlations ranging from .94 to .99, therefore we used
self-reports. Height and weight were used to calculate
body mass index (BMI; calculated by multiplying 703
times the total of a person’s weight in pounds divided
by his or her height in inches squared). Completion of
this survey took approximately 20-30 min.
Body Exposure During Sexual Activities Ques-
tionnaire (BESAQ). The BESAQ (Cash, Maikkula, &
Yamamiya, 2004) is a self-report questionnaire that
measures experiences of body image in sexual inter-
actions. Participants rate their degree of agreement
with 28 statements about how they feel and act during
sexual interactions. Each item is answered on a 5-point
Likert scale that ranges from 0 (never) to 4 (always or
almost always). Participants’ final scores are determined
by calculating the mean of the 28 questionnaire items.
Higher scores indicate that the individual experiences
more negative body image perceptions during sexual
activity. The BESAQ is an internally consistent measure
(Cronbach’s alpha = .95 for men and .96 for women).
The BESAQ had a Cronbach’s coefficient value of .96
in this study.
Body Image Quality of Life Inventory (BIQLI).
The BIQLI (Cash & Fleming, 2002) assesses the degree
to which an individual’s body image affects his or her
quality of life. Participants answer each item on a
7-point Likert scale. Participants rate their degree of
agreement with 19 statements about how their body
image affects them, ranging from -3 (very negative effect)
to +3 (very positive effect). It is useful in determining
how an individual’s body image perceptions affect a
large variety of life domains (e.g., sense of self, social
functioning, sexuality, emotional well-being, eating,
exercise, grooming, etc.). A participant’s final score is
the mean of their 19 ratings. A higher score indicates
a higher quality of life. It is internally consistent with a
Cronbach’s alpha of .95. The BIQLI had a Cronbach’s
coefficient value of .94 in this study.
The short form of the Situational Inventory of
Body-Image Dysphoria (SIBID-S). The SIBID-S (Cash,
2000) measures the negative body-image emotions that
an individual has in specific situational contexts. This
is a 20-item version of the original 48-item SIBID. The
SIBID-S uses a 5-point Likert scale with choices ranging
from 0 (never) to 4 (always or almost always). For each
item, participants indicate how often they have the
emotional experiences described in each statement. A
higher score indicates more frequent cross-situational
body image dissatisfaction. It has a Cronbach’s alpha
of .96 and achieved a Cronbach’s alpha of .95 in the
present study.
Objectified Body Consciousness scale (OBC). The
OBC (McKinley & Hyde, 1996) is a 24-item measure of
the degree to which an individual objectifies his or her
body. The OBC uses a 7-point Likert scale that ranges
from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). It consists
of three subscales: Body surveillance, Body shame,
and Appearance control beliefs. Body surveillance
refers to viewing one’s body as an outside observer.
Body shame involves feeling shame when one’s body
does not conform to cultural standards. Appearance
control beliefs refer to the belief that one can control
one’s appearance through effort. Cronbach’s alpha
for undergraduate women is .89 for the surveillance
subscale, .75 on the body shame subscale and .72 for
control beliefs. For undergraduate men, Cronbach’s
alpha is .79 on the surveillance subscale, .73 for the
body shame subscale, and .64 for control beliefs. Higher
scores on the subscales indicate higher levels of the
subscale construct in question. Overall, the OBC had
a Cronbach’s value of .80 in the present study.
Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. The Rosenberg Self-
Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965) consists of 10 items
and uses a 4-point Likert scale for responses ranging
from 1 (strongly agree) to 4 (strongly disagree). Lower
scores indicate higher self-esteem. This measure has a
Cronbach’s reliability coefficient of .84. It had a Cron-
bach’s alpha of .58 in the current study.
Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Ques-
tionnaire–Revised version (SATAQ-R). The SATAQ-R
(Cusumano & Thompson, 1997) is a 21-item scale that
measures the degree to which an individual recognizes
and accepts society’s appearance standards. It uses a
5-point Likert scale that ranges from 1 (completely dis-
agree) to 5 (completely agree). The SATAQ-R has both a
male and a female version and consists of two subscales:
awareness and internalization. The awareness subscale
assesses the degree to which an individual is aware of
society’s appearance standards, and the internalization
subscale assesses the degree to which the individual
adopts these beliefs as his or her own. A higher score
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134 Ps i Ch i Jo u r n a l o f un d e r g r a d u a t e re s e a r C h | fa l l 2010
Copyright 2010 by Psi Chi, The International Honor Society in Psychology (Vol. 15, No. 3/ISSN 1089-4136)
Bo d y iM a g e Pe r C e P t i o n s | Brennan, Lalonde, and Bain
on either subscale indicates a higher level of awareness
or internalization. Both subscales have high reliability
scores. The awareness subscale has a Cronbach’s alpha
of .83, and the internalization subscale has a Cronbach’s
alpha of .89. Overall this measure had a Cronbach’s
alpha of .88 in the present study.
Body-Esteem Scale for Adolescents and Adults
(BESAA). The BESAA (Mendelson et al., 2001) is a
23-item self-report measure of body esteem. It uses
5-point Likert scale that ranges from 0 (never) to
4 (always). The BESAA consists of three subscales:
Appearance, Weight, and Attribution. The Appearance
subscale measures one’s general feelings about one’s
appearance. It has a Cronbach’s alpha of .92, suggest-
ing high internal consistency. The Weight subscale
measures weight satisfaction. It also demonstrates high
internal consistency with a Cronbach’s value of .94. The
Attribution subscale measures one’s perceptions about
others’ evaluations of one’s body and appearance and
has a Cronbach’s alpha value of .81. Higher scores on
a subscale indicate more positive body esteem on that
subscale. Overall this scale had a Cronbach’s alpha of
.92 in the current study.
Results
Hypothesis 1
The means and standard deviations for all variables are
shown in Table 1. Independent t tests were conducted
to test for differences between males and females.
As predicted, men had higher scores than women
on the three subscales of the BESAA indicating that
men feel better about their bodies than women (see
Table 1). However, it should be noted that while the
sexes differed significantly on both the Appearance,
t(195) = 2.59, p = .01, and Weight, t(195) = 2.78, p =
.01, subscales, they did not differ significantly on the
Attribution subscale. Contrary to the second part of
this hypothesis, men and women did not significantly
differ on the BIQLI, however there was a trend toward
significance, t(195) = 1.85, p = .07 (see Table 1).
Hypothesis 2
As expected, women reported negative body image
perceptions during significantly more situations than
men on the SIBID-S, t(195) = -4.40, p = .01 (see Table
1). Women scored higher (showing more dissatisfac-
tion) than men on all questions except for questions 5,
14, and 20. On question 5 (When I am with attractive
persons of the other sex), a t test revealed men (M =
1.74, SD = 1.20) and women (M = 1.99, SD = 1.15) did
not significantly differ. On question 14 (When the topic
of conversation pertains to physical appearance), men
(M = 1.26, SD = 1.12) and women (M = 1.54, SD = 1.00)
did not significantly differ either. Similarly, on question
20 (During certain recreational activities) men (M =
1.07, SD = 1.26) and women (M = 1.35, SD = 2.24) did
not significantly differ.
Hypothesis 3
The prediction that body esteem scores on the BESAA
and body image experiences during sexual activity
scores on the BESAQ would be negatively correlated
was supported (see Table 2). BESAQ scores demon-
strated that women experience significantly more
negative body image perceptions during sexual activity
than men, t(195) = -3.47, p = .001. Although not sig-
nificantly different, the negative relationship between
BESAA scores and BESAQ scores was stronger in men
than women (see Table 2). A trend toward signifi-
cance (p = .06) was demonstrated for the relationship
between BESAQ scores and the Weight subscale of the
BESAA.
Hypothesis 4
BESAA and self-esteem scores were negatively cor-
related in both men and women (see Table 2). This
indicates that participants with lower self-esteem also
had lower body esteem.
Hypothesis 5
Women demonstrated higher rates of Internalization
on the SATAQ-R, t(195) = -2.55, p = .01, but they did not
show a significant difference from men on the Aware-
ness subscale of this measure (see Table 1). Women
also demonstrated higher rates of body shame, t(195)
= -3.63, p = .01, and body surveillance, t(195) = -3.06, p
= .01, on the OBC. There was no significant difference
between men and women in scores on the Control
beliefs subscale (see Table 1). Contrary to expectations,
the correlation matrix for the OBC revealed that Con-
trol beliefs were not significantly related to any other
variable in this study. This demonstrates that the degree
to which participants’ believed they had control over
their appearance did not affect how they felt about
their appearance.
Hypothesis 6
Contrary to expectations, BMI scores were not cor-
related with body esteem (BESAA) scores for men or
women (see Table 2).
Discussion
The present study demonstrated that much remains
to be learned about the similarities and differences
between men and women with regard to body image
perceptions. The higher body esteem scores of the male
participants supports the results of previous research
(Johnstone et al., 2008; Mendelson et al., 2001).
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Brennan, Lalonde, and Bain | Bo d y iM a g e Pe r C e P t i o n s
TABLE 1
Means and Standard Deviations of All Measures by Gender
Gender
Variable Women Men
M SD M SD
(a) Body-Esteem Scale for Adolescents and Adults (BESAA)
BESAA Appearance 2.33 (.69) 2.60 (.75)
BESAA Weight 2.31 (.83) 2.65 (.86)
BESAA Attribution 2.31 (.68) 2.41 (.57)
(b) Body Image Quality of Life Inventory (BIQLI)
.87 (1.0) 1.14 (1.04)
(c) Situational Inventory of Body Image Dysphoria (SIBID-S)
1.79 (.78) 1.29 (.82)
(d) Body Exposure during Sexual Activity Questionnaire (BESAQ)
1.43 (.78) 1.05 (.71)
(e) Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire (SATAQ-R)
Awareness 37.38 (5.57) 36.78 (5.94)
Internalization 33.67 (8.08) 30.79 (7.77)
(f) Objectied Body Consciousness scale (OBC)
Surveillance 4.56 (1.00) 4.09 (1.14)
Shame 3.04 (1.15) 2.44 (1.15)
Control beliefs 4.51 (1.01) 4.44 (1.06)
TABLE 2
Correlations of BESAQ, Self-Esteem and BMI Scores With BESAA Scores by Gender
Gender
Variable Women Men Total
(a) Body Exposure during Sexual Activity Questionnaire (BESAQ)
BESAA Appearance -.59** -.67** -.64**
BESAA Weight -.49** -.64** -.58**
BESAA Attribution -.30** -.34 -.32**
(b) Self-Esteem
BESAA Appearance -.72** -.62** -.68**
BESAA Weight -.27** -.47** -.41**
BESAA Attribution -.39** -.24* -.32**
(c) Body Mass Index (BMI)
BESAA Appearance -.08 .05 .04
BESAA Weight -.02 -.03 .01
BESAA Attribution -.06 -.06 .05
* p < .05. ** p < .01.
136 Ps i Ch i Jo u r n a l o f un d e r g r a d u a t e re s e a r C h | fa l l 2010
Copyright 2010 by Psi Chi, The International Honor Society in Psychology (Vol. 15, No. 3/ISSN 1089-4136)
Although I did not test for significance, in comparison
to the normative data for the BESAA, the females’
BESAA scores in this study were higher, whereas the
men’s scores were lower. The normative sample for
the BESAA consisted of 12-25 year-old male and female
respondents. Further investigation is warranted to
determine whether the comparison of these BESAA
scores reflects an improvement in females’ body image
satisfaction and a decrease in satisfaction amongst men.
Contrary to research indicating that body image dissat-
isfaction in men is related to perceived lack of muscle
instead of perceived fatness (Cafri & Thompson, 2004;
Olivardia et al., 2004; Pope et al., 1999), the results
of this study demonstrate that body esteem scores in
men are correlated with weight satisfaction. This cor-
roborates a recent study by Johnstone et al. (2008)
which found that although body image dissatisfaction
in men is primarily affected by perceived muscle, it is
also affected by perceived excess weight. Perhaps this
is because of the more recent media emphasis on male
weight.
Intuitively, one would think that a person with low
body esteem would be more adversely affected than
someone with higher body esteem scores; thus the fact
that women do not have a lower quality of life due to
body image dissatisfaction than men appears inconsis-
tent with the finding that women tend to have lower
body esteem scores than men. A possible explanation
for the finding that women do not have a lower quality
of life due to body image dissatisfaction is that men and
women may be adversely affected by body image per-
ceptions in different ways. However, there was a trend
toward statistical significance, so further research needs
to be done to determine whether a larger sample size
would have detected a significant difference.
The finding that women experience negative
body image perceptions in more situations than men
is consistent with the reports that women tend to have
lower body esteem scores than men. More situations
may make women feel negatively about themselves and
so they are, on average, more dissatisfied with their
bodies than men. The particular situations in which
men and women both experience negative body image
perceptions deserves further investigation. In the pres-
ent study, SIBID-S scores demonstrated that women
experience significantly more negative body emotions
across various situations than the men. However, there
were no significant differences between men and
women on the following three statements: “When I
am with attractive persons of the other sex,” “when the
topic of conversation pertains to physical appearance,”
and “during certain recreational activities.” On these
questions both men and women reported experienc-
ing negative body image emotions between sometimes
and moderately often. This may indicate that men and
women experience somewhat negative levels of body
image perceptions when in the presence of a member
of the opposite sex. It is possible that both men and
women care about how potential partners evaluate their
appearance, or that they feel physical attractiveness
is an important factor in heterosexual relationships.
Furthermore, men and women are equally affected by
negative body image perceptions during conversations
about physical appearance. This may suggest that men
and women are equally aware of and insecure about
their appearance when it is a direct topic of conversa-
tion and they feel that others may be thinking about
their appearance.
Finally, women did not report significantly higher
levels of negative body image perceptions than men
during recreational activities. This may indicate that
participating in recreational activities provides a dif-
ferent way to view the body that protects against body
image dissatisfaction. Viewing the body as an instru-
ment rather than as an object may promote a healthier
body image. Further research is needed to examine
whether the situations addressed in the SIBID-S affect
men and women differently. Results of such research
could be useful in creating prevention and intervention
programs, allowing professionals to target specific situ-
ations known to affect the population of interest.
The fact that women have higher overall scores
than men on the body shame and surveillance subscales
of the OBC may also explain why women have lower
body esteem scores than men. However, the finding
that men and women do not differ significantly on the
control belief subscale suggests that control beliefs are
not directly related to body image satisfaction. Indeed,
the correlation matrix for this measure revealed that
control beliefs were not significantly related to any
other variable in this study. This suggests that, contrary
to expectation, when people feel as if they have control
over their appearance, it does not protect them from
feeling negatively about their body. This appears to
counter Taylor’s (2003) findings that control beliefs
mitigate stressful situations. Perhaps body image dis-
satisfaction is not experienced in the same way as other
stressful experiences.
Women scored higher on the internalization of
sociocultural appearance standards than men, which
may explain why women have lower body esteem scores
than men. The fact that so many variables appear to play
a role in body image dissatisfaction supports the belief
that body image dissatisfaction is a multidimensional
construct, as proposed earlier (Cash, Morrow, et al.,
2004). More research needs to be done to determine if
men are more likely to internalize societal appearance
standards than they were in the past, and if women are
Bo d y iM a g e Pe r C e P t i o n s | Brennan, Lalonde, and Bain
fa l l 2010 | Ps i Ch i Jo u r n a l o f un d e r g r a d u a t e re s e a r C h 137
Copyright 2010 by Psi Chi, The International Honor Society in Psychology (Vol. 15, No. 3/ISSN 1089-4136)
somehow becoming less susceptible.
Body esteem scores were negatively correlated
with self-esteem for both women and men, supporting
the findings of Mendelson et al. (2001); however, the
results from the present study indicate that weight was
not significantly correlated with body esteem. This is
in contrast with the results from other studies in which
significant positive correlations were observed between
being overweight and being dissatisfied with one’s body,
particularly in women (Matz et al., 2002). Further cor-
roborating research is needed to support the findings
from this study suggesting that weight is no longer a
significant predictor of body image dissatisfaction.
In the present study, body esteem scores on all
three subscales: Weight, Appearance, and Attribution,
had significant negative correlations with body image
perceptions during sexual activity. Lower body esteem
scores were associated with more negative body image
perceptions during sexual activity. These results are
in line with the findings of Cash et al. (2004). Surpris-
ingly, body esteem scores had a stronger negative cor-
relation with body exposure during sexual activity for
men than women. Although these correlations were
not significantly different, there was a trend toward
significance for this relationship in regard to the body
esteem Weight subscale. Future research could exam-
ine whether this difference would be significant with
a larger sample size to determine whether negative
body image perceptions during sexual activity are more
strongly linked to weight dissatisfaction in men than
they are in women.
One of the limitations of this study was that it had a
narrow sample—undergraduate students. In addition,
these students received course credit as an incentive
to participate. Certain types of students may be more
inclined to seek the bonus credit and this sample may,
therefore, be less representative of the general popula-
tion of undergraduate students. The fact that this was
an online study may also threaten generalizability. It is
possible for students to answer questions in an online
survey quickly—or even randomly—without actually
reading the questions. In the present study, however,
a timer was used to ensure that respondents took a
reasonable amount of time to complete each question.
Another possible limitation was the length and the
number of the measurement instruments. Completion
of all the questionnaires took approximately 20-30 min
and the number of questions may have contributed to
fatigue or boredom, adversely affecting measurement
validity.
Finally, the measure used to assess body image
satisfaction (BESAA) assessed body esteem on three
levels: Appearance, Weight satisfaction, and Attribution.
Recent research has shown that measures that focus
on weight instead of muscle are not valid scales for use
with men. We included the BESAA because it did have
two subscales that did not look specifically at weight.
Interestingly, for participants in the current study,
scores on the weight satisfaction subscale were signifi-
cantly correlated with the other subscales of the body
esteem scale, suggesting that weight is a valid measure
of body esteem in men after all. Research suggests that
an equal number of men want to gain weight as want
to lose weight (Drewnowski & Yee, 1987). Therefore,
it would have been helpful to consider the direction of
the desired change in weight when comparing weight
dissatisfaction in men and women (Furnham et al.,
2002). It appears that future research should assess
both weight satisfaction (and direction of any desired
change) and muscle satisfaction when measuring body
image dissatisfaction. These measures would provide a
more accurate description of body image satisfaction
levels for men in particular.
Conclusion
This study demonstrated that much remains to be
learned about the differences and similarities in the
body image perceptions of men and women. Body
image dissatisfaction is more prevalent among women
than men, but men may be becoming more negatively
affected and women less so. Our findings support the
assertion that men are more commonly becoming the
targets of mass media images, resulting in more empha-
sis on the muscular ideal (Pope et al., 1999). To aid all
those affected by body image dissatisfaction, however,
future research should concentrate on the important
gender differences, as well as similarities, revealed in
the present study.
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