Ideal and Perceived Body Image of Female Adolescents

The purpose of this experiment was to investigate the differences between physical body, ideal and perceived body images. For this purpose, 30 female university students were asked to indicate position of their body parts on the grey wall in front of them. The length, height, and width of body parts were calculated from the position of 14 body parts (head, shoulders, elbows, hands, navel, waists, hips, knees) measured by x-y coordinates. The results showed (1) over-estimation in perceived height and length of lower body parts and width of waist, and (2) the same over-estimation in ideal body image except width of waist