African American College Women's Body Image: An Examination of Body Mass, African Self-Consciousness, and Skin Color Satisfaction

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine general and cultural factors associated with body image perceptions of African American women college students. A total of 124 African American college women attending a historically Black college completed the following scales: African Self‐Consciousness (ASC) scale, the Skin Color Satisfaction Scale (SCSS), the Body Mass Index (BMI), and several body image measures. Results from simultaneous multiple regression analyses suggest that all three factors collectively accounted for a significant amount of variance in dimensions of body image satisfaction. Specifically, SCSS accounted for a significant amount of variance in three body image dimensions (i.e., appearance evaluation, satisfaction with specific body areas, internalization of social cultural messages of appearance), suggesting that the greater satisfaction with one's skin color was associated with more positive, internal perspectives of one's body image. The BMI accounted for a significant amount of variance in measures of appearance evaluation and satisfaction with body areas, such that greater BMI scores were related to a less positive evaluation of overall appearance but more satisfaction with specific body areas. Implications of the findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Score reliability and factor similarity of the Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire-3 (SATAQ-3) among four ethnic groups

“…For example, Overstreet and colleagues [54] found that Black women preferred a curvier ideal than White women and that dissatisfaction with ones appearance in comparison to the curvaceous ideal predicted appearance-related concerns in Black women. In a sample of 124 African American college females, Falconer and Neville [59] found that greater satisfaction with one’s skin color was associated with more positive body image. Consequently, among African American/Black women, internalization of media depicting a curvaceous-ideal that highlight body areas more salient to African American/Black ideals of beauty (e.g., butt size, skin color, breast size) may be more salient to body image problems in this group.…”

The Effects of System Justifying Beliefs on Skin-Tone Surveillance, Skin-Color Dissatisfaction, and Skin-Bleaching Behavior

“…This standard embodies the privilege of being White. Research shows that African American women evaluate the appearance of their skin tone, not just body shape and size (see Buchanan, Fischer, Tokar, & Yoder, 2008), anticipate that their skin tone will be appraised by others (Falconer & Neville, 2000;Hall, 1995;Weitz, 2004), and indicate that they would alter their skin tone if possible (Wallace, Townsend, Glasgow, & Ojie, 2011). These findings illustrate that many women of color may internalize a White beauty ideal.…”

The Role of Enculturation, Racial Identity, and Body Mass Index in the Prediction of Body Dissatisfaction in African American Women

“…The purpose of this study was to investigate whether enculturation and racial identity in African American women were related to their body image. Several authors (e.g., Befort et al, 2008;Falconer & Neville, 2000) have suggested that African American women are protected from the negative body image prevalent in the dominant culture by virtue of their connection with a culture that is not as focused (as the dominant culture) upon weight as a standard for beauty. In a similar vein, research has suggested that those who report higher levels of positive Black identity (e.g., internalization attitudes) also tended to reject more of the European American beauty ideals (Hesse-Biber et al, 2010).…”

“…In addition, when compared with Asian ethnic groups, African American women tended to have higher BMIs but reported being more comfortable with their bodies (Yates et al, 2004). African American women with high BMIs also report satisfaction with specific body parts (Falconer & Neville, 2000).…”