A study published in the journal PLOS ONE provides a detailed understanding of the impact of age and sociocultural pressure on body appreciation among White Western women, Black Nigerian women, and Chinese women.
Study: Examining body appreciation in six countries: The impact of age and sociocultural pressure. Image Credit: Artem Varnitsin / Shutterstock
Background
Body image perception is a multifactorial and complex phenomenon that can be influenced by age, gender, and sociocultural factors. Previous research has primarily focused on identifying the triggers and consequences of negative body image. A wide range of studies have been done to identify triggering factors as well as consequences of negative body image perception. In contrast, there is a scarcity of research on positive body image.
Positive body image is a broader concept that includes appreciation, high self-esteem, functional body image, and satisfaction. Positive body image has also been associated with improved quality of life and reduced internalization of appearance ideals.
In this study, scientists have investigated the impact of age, sociocultural pressures, and internalization of physical ideals on body appreciation among adult women residing in Western countries (Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States), China, and Nigeria.
Study design
The study was conducted on 1,186 women with a mean age of 34 years (age range: 18 – 80 years) who were residents of Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, China, and Nigeria.
The participants were categorized into three groups depending on their country of residence and ethnicity: White Western, Nigerian, and Chinese. They were asked to complete online questionnaires designed to collect information on demographic characteristics, body appreciation level, perceived sociocultural pressure, and internalization of thin and athletic ideals.
Important observations
The analysis considering age and ethnicity as predictors revealed no significant impact of age on body appreciation in the entire study population. However, a trend towards positive associations between age and body appreciation was observed in Chinese women.
Considering ethnicity, the lowest and highest levels of body appreciation were observed in White Western women and Black Nigerian women, respectively.
A significant reduction in perceived sociocultural pressure from family, peers, and media was observed with increasing age in the entire study population. However, no significant impact of age was observed on thin-ideal or athletic-ideal internalization.
Regarding perceived pressure from family, no significant main effect of ethnicity was observed when Black Nigerian women were considered as the reference category. However, for Chinese women, it remained stable across age groups, and for White Western women and Black Nigerian women, it decreased with increasing age.
White Western women reported experiencing significantly higher perceived pressure from media and significantly lower pressure from peers. Considering the age-ethnicity interaction, a reduction in perceived pressure from peers with increasing age was observed in Black Nigerian women. However, this interaction remained stable for White Western and Chinese women.
Both White Western and Chinese women reported higher levels of thin- and athletic-ideal internalization than Black Nigerian women, with Chinese women showing the highest internalization of appearance ideals.
Considering the age-ethnicity interaction, a reduction in thin- or athletic-ideal internalization with increasing age was observed in White Western women but not in the other two ethnicities.
Regarding the impact of sociocultural pressure and physical ideal internalization on body appreciation, the analysis revealed that higher thin or athletic ideal internalization and higher perceived sociocultural pressure from family, peers, and media are significantly associated with lower body appreciation in all countries and age groups.
Study significance
The study finds that Black Nigerian women have the highest level of satisfaction with their bodies, followed by Eastern Asian Chinese women and White Western women. However, no significant difference in body appreciation between women of different ages has been observed in the study.
The study identifies ethnicity as the strongest predictor of body appreciation, highlighting the protective impact of sociocultural factors on body image perception.
The study's older White and Black participants reported significantly lower physical ideal internalization than their younger peers. Similarly, older participants from all ethnicities reported lower sociocultural pressure than their younger peers. However, among different ethnicities, the lowest and the highest sociocultural pressures have been observed for Black Nigerian and Chinese women, respectively. Previous studies from China have also reported that Chinese women strongly internalize the thin ideal.
Overall, the study finds that sociocultural pressure and physical ideal internalization can negatively impact body appreciation, irrespective of ethnic and age differences.
The study population includes a higher number of young participants than older participants and a higher number of White Western participants than Black Nigerian and Chinese participants. Considering these limitations, scientists highlight the need for future studies with a comparable number of participants to get a fully representative picture of women's body appreciation across ages and ethnicities.
Regarding practical implications, the scientists mention that these findings can be used for developing positive body image interventions, especially when considering a cross-cultural and lifespan perspective.
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