The Gender-Specific Differences in Body Image Perception and Its Effects on Physical Health

Physical activity and healthy eating are often targets of interventional studies to promote physical health. However, body image and an individual’s sense of self-worth contribute significantly to the likelihood of maintaining proper health habits (Gillen, 2015). Purpose: In the present study, we examined gender differences in body image perception and its effects on physical health. Methodology: A Multidimensional Body-Self Relations Questionnaire (MBSRQ; Keeton, Cash & Brown, 1990) was used to assess self-reported factors that contribute to the physical health of 98 undergraduate students (38 males and 60 females). Institutional Review for the study was approved, and each subject signed an informed consent prior to volunteering for the study. The MBSRQ examines specific responses in the following categories: Appearance Orientation, Appearance Evaluation, Fitness Evaluation, Health Evaluation, Fitness Orientation, Overweight Preoccupation, Self-Classified Weight, Body Area Satisfaction, and Health Orientation. Results: A multivariate analysis between genders revealed significant differences in the Appearance Orientation variable (partial eta= 0.072; p= 0.007) and the Overweight Preoccupation variable (partial eta= 0.131; p= 0.00). Rather than doing follow-up univariate analyses, a discriminate function analysis was performed to determine which variables contributed to the gender differences. The discriminant function analysis accurately predicted gender with 66.3% accuracy (Wilks’ Lambda= 0.869, p\u3e 0.05), with the Overweight Preoccupation variable being the strongest contributing factor. Conclusion: There are strong gender differences in the body image attitudes of college students as evidenced by the multivariate analysis. Additionally, it appears the sub-scale for Overweight Preoccupation contributes the greatest to those gender differences