The Thin-Youth Ideal

Abstract

College students' attitudes about the pervasive thin ideal have been well-studied, but the relationship between the thin ideal and youth ideal in young adults forming life-long health attitudes is understudied. This cross-sectional study examined body image, aging anxiety, ageism, and gender in a sample of 485 undergraduate students. Results from this study demonstrate associations among components of objectified body consciousness (surveillance, shame, and control), body image avoidance, aging anxiety (fear of older people, psychological concerns, physical appearance, and fear of losses), ageism, and gender. Educational efforts that address body image in relation to aging anxiety and ageism are discussed.

Aging anxieties and disturbed eating in female students: It’s not all about aging appearance concern

“…Both are appearance based, involve an aversion to maturity-related physical changes such as weight gain, entail the belief that a youthful physique is desirable and motivate behaviours believed to retain a youthful body. This is consistent with recent evidence that female students endorse a so-called ‘thin - youth ideal’ or the belief that ‘youthfulness’ is denoted by ‘slimness’, and this is associated with greater body dissatisfaction ( Gendron & Lydecker, 2016 ). Also, the EDI maturity fears scale has been used to measure fear of aging amongst university students because of the apparent conceptual similarities of these measures ( Smith et al, 2017 ).…”

“…Importantly, young women, defined broadly in studies as 18-39 year olds and including university students, are more negative about aging than their male peers as well as middle aged and older adults of both sexes ( Barrett & von Rohr, 2008 ; Brunton & Scott, 2015 ; Lynch, 2000 ; Sargent-Cox, Rippon, & Burns, 2014 ). Young women are also more pessimistic about their aging appearance ( Barrett & Robbins, 2008 ; Brunton & Scott, 2015 ; Gendron & Lydecker, 2016 ) and female university students negative about personal aging are more likely to ‘dread’ looking older ( Chonody & Teater, 2016 ). Young women also stigmatize their future aging appearance in their discourse about the transition to middle and later life ( Bybee, Merisca, & Wells, 1999 ; Bybee & Wells, 2002 ; Bybee & Wells, 2006 ).…”

“…Young women also stigmatize their future aging appearance in their discourse about the transition to middle and later life ( Bybee, Merisca, & Wells, 1999 ; Bybee & Wells, 2002 ; Bybee & Wells, 2006 ). Furthermore, women in general with negative attitudes to aging report greater global DE, body dissatisfaction and drive for thinness ( Barrett & Robbins, 2008 ; Becker, Diedrichs, Jankowski, & Werchan, 2013 ; Gendron & Lydecker, 2016 ; Robert-McComb & Massey-Stokes, 2014 ; Runfola et al, 2014 ). This is consistent with evidence that aging and DE have common appearance based determinants ( Keel & Forney, 2013 ; Stice, Ng, & Shaw, 2010 ).…”

“…Young women’s appearance concerns also focus on their body shape ( Goodman, 1994 ) while women’s body dissatisfaction and ‘fat talk’ decline across adulthood ( Becker et al, 2013 ; Field-Springer, 2012 ; Montemurro & Gillen, 2013 ). Female students with greater aging appearance concern also engage in more body surveillance activities indicating they define their bodies by how they look rather than feel ( Gendron & Lydecker, 2016 ).…”

“…Also, quantitative studies typically assess a narrow range of problem eating behaviors such as global DE and cardinal risk behaviors ( Becker et al, 2013 ). For example, Gendron and Lydecker (2016) used the AAS in full but body objectification and body image avoidance measures rather than explicit measures of DE. Similarly, qualitative studies provide rich data on broad themes in women’s discourses around aging, appearance and problem eating behaviour but are less clear on which aging concerns are associated with specific DE behaviors ( Becker et al, 2013 ).…”