Perception of Body Shape by Underweight, Average, and Overweight Men and Women

Abstract

Using figure drawings, perception of body shape was evaluated by underweight, average, and overweight men and women. Body-shape dissatisfaction was greatest for 60 overweight women, and about the same in 151 average weight women as it was for 102 overweight men. Average weight men (n = 107) and underweight women (n = 31) were fairly satisfied with their current shapes. Both men and women had distorted views of the shape the opposite sex found most attractive. Women guessed that men would prefer a thinner shape than they actually did, and men guessed that women would prefer a larger shape than they actually did. The distortion was larger for men as their own size increased but not for women.

Patient-reported satisfaction and cosmesis outcomes following laparoscopic adrenalectomy: laparoendoscopic single-site adrenalectomy vs. conventional laparoscopic adrenalectomy

“…In the general population, men experience much less body dissatisfaction than woman. 23,24 We found that with all patients, there were no significant differences in satisfaction or cosmesis scores between the LESS-A and CLA groups. However, in young and female patients, the satisfaction scores were significantly higher in the LESS group than the conventional group.…”

Body image, cosmesis, quality of life, and functional outcome of hand-assisted laparoscopic versus open restorative proctocolectomy: long-term results of a randomized trial

“…This is consistent with the reports in the literature about gender differences. In the general population, men experience much less body dissatisfaction than women [29,30].…”

A imagem corporal de mulheres morbidamente obesas avaliada através do desenho da figura humana

“…Ou seja, a insegurança e os sentimentos de inadequação das mesmas frente ao ambiente parecem estar associados ao seu baixo auto-conceito. Concordando com Demarest e Langer (1996), a auto-percepção da imagem corporal parece depender, em parte, do status do indivíduo diante das normas sociais e culturais aceitas.…”

“…Os dados aqui encontrados sinalizam-se também concordantes com achados da literatura envolvendo a investigação da imagem corporal de pessoas obesas, a saber, os estudos de Barros e colaboradores (1990), Cash (1993), Demarest e Langer (1996), Ogden e Evans (1996) e Werlinger, King, Clark, Pera e Wincze (1997). Esses autores constataram a presença de indicadores de insatisfação e preocupação com o corpo associados a diferentes variáveis, como a inaceitação do próprio corpo, os valores sócio-econômico-culturais e o status do sujeito.…”

“…De uma forma geral, os estudos sobre imagem corporal apontam para prejuízos relacionados à insatisfação, depreciação, distorção e preocupação com a auto-imagem, todos eles sendo fortemente influenciados por fatores sócio-culturais (Cash, 1993;Demarest & Langer, 1996;Gittelson & cols., 1996). Alguns autores, entre eles Foster, Wadden e Vogt (1997), Leonhard e Barry (1998) e Ogden e Evans (1996) fazem menção à Teoria do Descontentamento Normativo, que sustenta a idéia de que a insatisfação com o próprio corpo parece estar relacionada às exigências sociais e culturais de aparência e magreza.…”