Salience of physical appearance characteristics among young women in Thailand

Abstract

Our aim in the present study was to identify key components of physical appearance among young Thai women. Free listings, focus groups and pile sorting were used. One-hundred twenty young women generated 78 unique physical appearance characteristics. Ninety-four nursing students validated these characteristics in focus groups and then sorted them into piles that reflected separate domains of physical appearance and labeled them. Salience analysis revealed that facial appearance (e.g., bright facial skin, high nose bridge, big eyes) was the most important domain, followed by body weight and shape, skin color and texture, hair (color, texture, length), and 'other' physical appearance (e.g., slender neck, slim fingers). This is the first study to identify aspects of physical appearance that are most salient to young Thai women and that may differ from women in other cultural contexts. These findings could be used to develop culturally grounded measures of physical appearance in Thai women.

Examining the Effects of Exercise on Frustration-Induced Anxiety-Like Behavior in Rats

“…This was reflected in our finding that White Americans who were high in body dissatisfaction were also high in excessive exercise. On the other hand, Asian women were more concerned about being thin rather than having a fit body (Kaneko, Kiriike, Ikenaga, Miyawaki, & Yamagami, 1999;Rongmuang et al, 2011). The preceding finding was true in our study as well, where international Vietnamese women who were high in body dissatisfaction also restricted their food intake.…”

“…Our results extended the literature by providing evidence for potentially differing cultural values with regard to the thin ness ideal between international Vietnamese and White American female undergraduates. Previous crosscultural research on perceived physical attractiveness revealed that women from Asian countries had a considerably lower idealized body size compared to Western standards (Lee, Leung, Lee, Yu, & Leung, 1996;Rongmuang et al, 2011). Interestingly, Wardle et al (2006) examined body image and weight control across several countries in Europe, the Mediterranean, Pacific Asia, and the Americas, and found that women from Asian countries had the lowest body mass index but reported the highest levels of weight concerns and perceptions of being overweight.…”

A Cross-Cultural Study Investigating Body Features Associated With Male Adolescents’ Body Dissatisfaction in Australia, China, and Malaysia

“…Furthermore, while we added three items to the original body dissatisfaction scale we used based on the literature on Asian males, it is possible that other body features may also be important. For example, skin tone and texture may be important determinants of body dissatisfaction among Asian populations (Rongmuang et al, 2011). Future assessments of the determinants of body dissatisfaction among adolescent males could include assessment of other such potentially relevant traits.…”

“…Another body feature that may hold significance for Asian adolescent males, although it has received very little research attention, is dissatisfaction with hair. Research suggests that hair dissatisfaction may be an important feature of body dissatisfaction among Asian women (Mellor et al, 2013; Rongmuang et al, 2011; Tewari, 2009), and results from recent qualitative research suggests that this may also be the case for young adult Asian males (Watt & Ricciardelli, 2012). Watt and Ricciardelli (2012) reported that hair-change strategies, such as styling and coloring, emerged as a theme in discussions about body image with male Chinese participants, and intracultural variations were also reported, with Japan, Korea, and Hong Kong being identified as the “harbingers of hair fashion” for Asian men (p. 121).…”

The Breast Size Satisfaction Survey (BSSS): Breast size dissatisfaction and its antecedents and outcomes in women from 40 nations

“…This is supported by empirical data showing a relatively standardised preference for female thinness and similar rates of actual-ideal weight discrepancy across nations (e.g., Swami, Frederick et al, 2010). Similar processes have not been examined vis-à-vis breast size, although some scholars have suggested the increasing commodification and objectification of large breasts in some parts of the world (e.g., in East and Southeast Asia; Rongmuang et al, 2011;Wong, 2019), as well as a marked shift away from a focus on the functions of the breasts toward their treatment in purely aesthetic terms (Miller, 2006). In the absence of empirical data, however, it is difficult to know to what extent a homogenising pattern could be observed globally, and so a first aim of the present study was to examine breast size ideals and breast dissatisfaction across diverse national sites.…”