Body image and body valuation in female participants of an outdoor education program 2009

The study surveyed 28 undergraduate female students participating in a two-week outdoor education program in the Adirondack Mountains, compared with 11 graduate students participating in a two-week on-campus course, to see whether body image and body valuation changed. A single body valuation ranking question, the Multidimensional Body-Self Relations Questionnaire (MBSRQ), a Mann Whitney test, and Wilcoxon signed ranks tests were used. Results of the MBSRQ showed no significant change in body image for the outdoor education program participants, while the on-campus course participants showed a small, significant decrease in body image comparing beginning of course to end of course. Examining the results more closely revealed that those participants in the outdoor education program who had the lower scores in body satisfaction at the beginning of the program did show significant increase in body image by end of the program