Relationship Between Body Image and Body Mass Index in College Men

Objective and Participants: The authors examined cognitive and affective dimensions of body image of a randomized sample of 188 college men on the basis of body mass index (BMI). Methods: They conducted chi-square tests and ANOVAs to determine differences between 4 BMI groups (underweight, normal weight, overweight, and obese) on demographics and body image measures. Results: The authors found significant differences in regard to total body image (p < .001), weight or shape concern (p < .001), and body dissatisfaction (p < .001). BMI was significantly correlated with negative body image. Overweight and obese participants reported significantly higher levels of negative body image than did normal- and underweight participants. Overweight participants reported significantly higher weight and shape concerns than did underweight, normal-weight, and obese participants. In regard to body dissatisfaction, underweight, overweight, and obese participants reported significantly higher levels of body dissatisfaction than that reported by normal-weight participants. Conclusions: BMI may be an important factor in identifying potential body image disorders in college-aged men.     

One Size Doesn't Fit All: New Continua of Figure Drawings and Their Relation to Ideal Body Image

Abstract

Objective: This study introduces a new figure drawing measure, the Presentation of Images on a Continuum Scale (PICS), which includes continua of bodies from thin to obese and thin to muscular for both men and women. Participants: Participants were undergraduate students from a private, Catholic university in Connecticut. The data were collected in the spring of 2010. Methods: Three hundred forty-eight undergraduates completed an online survey that assessed current versus ideal body image as well as attractiveness of body types. Results: Results showed that current versus ideal body selection discrepancies on the PICS among women (but not among men) were related to several negative outcomes involving increased body concerns, less body satisfaction, and lower self-esteem, as well as increased drive for muscularity among men. Study implications are described from a social norming perspective.     

Are there differences in gender,race, and age regarding body dissatisfaction?

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to examine any differences that may exist among demographic variables such as gender, age, and race in regard to internalization of society and media messages leading to body dissatisfaction that may lead to disordered eating behaviors such as preoccupation with weight, dieting, and eating restraint. A total of 324 participants completed the demographic questionnaire, the Multidimensional Body Self Relations Questionnaire, the Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire for women, the Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire-Revised-Male-Version for men, and Rotter’s Internal-External (I-E) Locus of Control Scale. The results of this study found, as predicted, that Caucasians reported higher internalization, higher body dissatisfaction, and higher preoccupation with weight, dieting, and eating restraint than African Americans. This study showed no differences regarding men’s and women’s internalization or body dissatisfaction but did reveal that women reported higher preoccupation with weight, dieting, and eating restraint than men. Regarding age, this study found that age did not predict internalization, body dissatisfaction, or preoccupation with weight, dieting, and eating restraint.     

The Freshman 15—A Closer Look

Abstract

Objectives and Participants: Changes in body weight, composition, and size were examined in college freshmen at the beginning (initial, n = 240) and end of fall semester 2007 (n = 214) and the end of spring semester 2008 (n = 205). Methods: Height, weight, body composition, and waist and hip measurements were assessed. Results: Mean weight, body mass index (BMI), absolute and percent body fat all increased significantly over fall semester and the academic year. About 31% of freshmen lost ≥5 lbs. Mean academic year weight gain was 2.6 lbs (entire group) and 6.0 lbs (weight gainers); body fat increased by 4.4 lbs in the weight gainers. A significant correlation (r = .509) was found between weight change and waist circumference change, but not between weight change and waist to hip ratio change. Conclusions: Freshmen weight gain is associated with increases in body fat and waist circumference, which may be troublesome should the trend continue throughout college.     

A Preliminary Study of Body Image and HIV Sexual Risk Behavior in Black Gay and Bisexual Men: Implications for HIV Prevention

Nearly three decades since the onset of the AIDS epidemic, Black gay and bisexual men (BGBM) experience increasingly disproportionate rates of HIV and AIDS in the United States. The aim of this exploratory research investigation was to examine the relationship between body image and HIV sexual risk behavior in a community-based sample of 481 BGBM in the New York metropolitan area. Multivariable analyses demonstrated that men with a negative body image were less likely to use condoms during anal intercourse with a male sexual partner as compared to those respondents with a positive body image. These findings pose considerable implications for the influence of body image on HIV sexual risk behavior in BGBM.     

An Examination of the Attitudes Underlying Sexual Coercion Among Acquaintances

Summary

Analyses of rape-supportive attitudes, with few exceptions, have not included conceptual or operational definitions of attitudes, and analysts have not explicitly examined the affective, cognitive, and behavioral components of attitudes toward rape. The purposes of the present article are to (a) use a social psychological framework for the analysis of attitudes toward rape and (b) examine the usefulness of distinguishing between the affective and cognitive components of attitudes toward rape. Three studies are presented. In Study 1, items from 14 published attitudes-toward-rape scales were categorized as affective, cognitive, or behavioral. Results revealed that 1.1% of the items were identified as behavioral; 52.2% of the items were categorized as cognitive and 46.7% as affective. Secondary analyes of published data revealed the respondents reported more disagreement with affectively-based rape attitude items than cogintively-based rape attitude items. In study 2, we further examined the distinction between affective and cognitive components of attitudes using Burt'S (1980) Rape Myth Acceptance Scale. Data collected from college men confirmed the affective-cognitive distinction. Furthermore, affectively-based attitudes, but not cognitively-based attitudes, were correlated with level of self-reported sexual coercion. In Study 3, we compared affective and cognitive components using a factor-analytically derived attitude measure. These analyses replicated the findings from Study 2. Together, these results support the importance of attending to the separate components of attitudes. In particular, the affective component of attitudes toward rape may have more predictive utility than the cognitive component.     

Women leaders,self‐body‐care and corporate moderate feminism: An (im)perfect place for feminism

This article offers self‐body‐care as an aspect of corporate moderate feminism and a manifestation of postfeminism for women leaders. It explains how postfeminism as a bodily practice surfaces through women leaders' body work and how women ‘top' leaders strategize to stabilize their credibility by identifying their own and other women' body work needs and the steps they take to meet these. Self‐body‐care extends understandings of body work as part of postfeminist governmentality and contributes to understandings of moderate feminism as that which deflects and reflects feminism and constrains and empowers subjects. As such self‐body‐care offers an (im)perfect space for disruption and for Gender and Organization Studies (GOS) scholars to pursue the implications and potential of postfeminism. We call for women elite leaders to be part of feminist futures and illustrate self‐body‐care as an aspect of corporate moderate feminism by highlighting complexity in the postfeminist thesis and reflexively re‐examining two of our previous published empirical studies of women ‘top' leaders.     

Battling Body Image: Confessions of a Health Educator

As a college health educator, the author knows much about healthy behaviors. In spite of this, however, the author discusses finding herself struggling with the same problems of body image that her students express. With a variety of influences tied to negative body image, it is important that college health professionals create a plan of action for reducing the negative effects of such influences. The author proposes that health professionals take a more active role in combating body image problems by using 3 important strategies: incorporating body image into basic health curricula and classes, focusing research efforts on intervention, and exploring the use of advocacy to initiate change at the societal level.     

Cosmetic Surgery: Beauty as Commodity

Cosmetic surgery stands, for many theorists and social critics, as the ultimate symbol of invasion of the human body for the sake of physical beauty. Interpreted as somehow qualitatively different from other efforts at altering the body, plastic surgery is considered to be so extreme, so dangerous, that it leaves no space for interpretation as anything but subjugation. While such criticisms are compelling, they tend to operate at either the grand level of cultural discourse or the highly grounded level of physiological effect. As a result, they leave out almost altogether the experience of the women who themselves have plastic surgery. This article draws from qualitative interviews with 20 female clients of a Long Island, NY plastic surgeon to explore cosmetic surgery as an occasion for autobiographical accounting and a particular kind of account of the self. Interview data suggest that plastic surgery allows women who undergo these procedures to successfully reposition their bodies as normal bodies. At the same time, it also requires them to create accounts that reattach the self to the surgically-corrected—but potentially inauthentic—body by invoking both essentialist notions of the self and corresponding notions of the body as accidental, inessential, or degenerated from a younger body that better represented who they truly are.     

Body Appreciation and Contraceptive Use Among College Women: A Brief Report

Research suggests that body image and sexual behaviors are related, with poor body image associated with risky behaviors and positive body image related to protective behaviors. However, few studies explore the relationships between positive body image and contraceptive use. Accordingly, the current study investigated the relationship between body appreciation and barrier and hormonal contraceptive use among college women (N = 399). Body appreciation was significantly related to male condom use and to the use of both male condoms and a hormonal contraceptive. These findings are promising as dual contraceptive use is the best way to prevent unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs).     

Arsenic exposure associated with decreased bone mineralization in male

Abstract

Objective: Arsenic (As) exposure may cause several medical problems. There were a few studies investigated whether it has affected bone tissue in women. However, there was no study in men. The aim of this study was to evaluate associations between bone mineral density (BMD) and As exposure in men subjects.

Material and methods: We enrolled in this study 254 subjects who due to chronic As exposure suspected and 82 subjects as a control group. Hair As levels were detected by a hair analysis (Varian AA240Z Zeeman Atomic Absorption Spectrometer, USA). BMD measurements were obtained using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry instrumentation. We investigated associations between the hair As levels and BMD measurements.

Results: The frequency of osteoporosis and osteopenia was found to be 0.8% and 54.5%, respectively, in the As exposure group. The frequency of osteoporosis was found to be 1% and osteopenia was 32.4% in control subjects. There was significant difference between two groups (p?<?0.001). Hair As level has a median 1.01 (min: 0.06 and max: 25.71). There were no significant correlation between hair As levels and BMD measurements.

Conclusion: According to our observations, As exposure was associated with bone metabolism. Possible cause of osteopenia may be exposure to As. Further investigations are needed to estimate the relationship between As and bone metabolism.     

Application of multivariate longitudinal models in SIRT6, FBS,and BMI analysis of the elderly

Abstract

Objective: SIRT6 is a main regulator of metabolism and lifespan and its importance has been implicated in the prevention against aging-related diseases. The objective of this study was to examine the application of multivariate longitudinal models in SIRT6, FBS, and BMI analysis in the elderly men after eight weeks concurrent training with supplementation of l-arginine (l-Arg).

Methods: Thirty two elderly men with mean age of 63.09?±?3.71 years were randomly divided into four equal-sized groups (each n?=?8); Exercise?+?supplement (ES) group; exercise?+?placebo (EP) group; supplement (S) group and control (C) group. The ES and EP groups performed the eight weeks of concurrent training, three sessions per week. Group ES and group S consumed 1000?mg of l-Arg per day at 8:00?pm. Measurements of biochemical variables were done by ELISA Reader method. For analytical purposes, we used the paired sample t-test and multivariate longitudinal modeling with generalized estimating equation (GEE) methodology. All analyses have been implemented in R-3.4.1. p Values less than .05 were considered statistically significant.

Results: With respect to significant association between sirt6, FBS, and BMI, this study showed that synergy effect of training and supplementation was greater than the sum of their individual effects on SIRT6 (β?=?0.79, p?<?.001), FBS (β?=??5.56, p?=?.022), and BMI (β?=??3.89; p?=?.041). Also exercise alone had a significantly larger effect than supplementation alone on responses.

Conclusions: It can be concluded that the joint usage of concurrent training and supplement of l-Arg for elderly men could improve the metabolism and body composition.     

The College Health Advisor and the College Age Adoptee

Abstract

Eating disorders are among the most common psychopathologies on college campuses. Research on ethnic differences in eating disorder symptoms and prevalence has resulted in conflicting conclusions. Some studies find that particular ethnic groups have a higher prevalence of a symptom; others find that members of that ethnic group have a lower prevalence of the same symptom. The authors explored the role of body mass index (BMI), one potential confound. They used a reliable measure of eating disorder symptoms to assess differences between Hispanic, Asian, and non-Hispanic White college women from two separate samples. After controlling for BMI, ethnic differences in eating disorder symptoms of concern about weight and shape disappeared, but differences in restrained eating remained. Inconsistent findings in the ethnic-difference literature on eating disorders may result from systematic group differences in BMI. Implications for college health programs, counseling, and case finding are discussed.     

Nonspecific Urethritis: Its Current Status

Abstract

The etiology, epidemiology, clinical presentation, diagnosis, and treatment of nonspecific urethritis (N.S.U.) is discussed. Chlamydia seems to be responsible for approximately 40–50% of cases while the etiology of the remainder remains obscrue. There seems to be reasonably good evidence for venereal transmission as well as for treatment of the female partner whether symptomatic or asymptomatic.

Tetracyline given for 21 days or oxytetracycline given for four days seem to be the most effective first line treatment regimens at this time.

Complications which include prostatitis, epididymitis, urethral stricture, and Reiter's Syndrome, are discussed. It appears as though there is a reasonable possibility that Reiter's Syndrome is a separate entity (or immunological sequela) rather than a complication.     

The Body in Mind: Mead's Embodied Cognition

This article highlights the role played by the body in the work of George Herbert Mead. For Mead, the social emergence of mind depends on human physiology. This is revealed through a detailed exploration of three thematic domains in his work: the organism–environment dyad, perception, and the manipulatory stage of the act. From this, I argue that Mead saw the body as constitutive of cognition and central to the development of mind and self. Present-day research supports this view and demonstrates Mead's relevance for understanding embodied cognition.     

The Metaphor Goddess in Three Quarter Time: A Relational Use of Story And Metaphor

This paper explores co-creating, and integrating metaphor and story within the relational space of patient and analyst where new meanings can be co-authored into a more adaptive autobiography—a tale based on the impressions of life. Through this joint construction of intersecting stories, a person has an opportunity to rewrite a story which allows an individual to function more productively and creatively— a goal of psychotherapy.     

Heavenly Monsters: The Politics of the Male Body in the Naked Issue of Attitude Magazine

The male body in contemporary gay culture is subordinated to distinct aesthetic and ethical norms that reflect an all-male idolization of the young, muscular, smooth, and transcendent physique. The queer body is manipulated in different techniques including daily work at the gym, diet, hair supplement/removal, tanning, and dying. Liberating the body from heteronormative oppression does not necessarily guarantee the liberation of the (gay) body from other powerful systems that produce and commercialize body fascism. This article problematizes these body politics and economy of identity focusing on the naked issue of Attitude (October 1999), a six-year-old British life-style glossy magazine. This analysis mainly focuses on the illuminating interview with five gay men who express their intimate feelings and criticize the body worship in the gay media: an over-weight man, a skinny man, a psoriasis sufferer, an old and heavily tattooed and pierced man, and a bodybuilder who works as an escort.     

Discrimination,mental health,and body image among transgender and gender-non-binary individuals: Constructing a multiple mediational path model

The purpose of the current study was to examine the relationships among discrimination, mental health, and body image in a national sample of transgender adults. Participants (N = 78) identified as transgender, genderqueer, or other gender-non-binary identities and were recruited via a national online survey. Harassment/rejection, work/school, and other discrimination explained 10.4% of the variance in body appreciation, while satisfaction with life, anxiety, self-esteem, and depression explained 60.7%. Within these models, harassment/rejection was inversely associated with body appreciation, while self-esteem and satisfaction with life were positively associated. A series of path models moving from a measurement model to a more parsimonious and excellent-fitting model found that the effect of harassment/rejection on body appreciation was fully mediated by self-esteem and satisfaction with life, resulting in a multiple mediation.     

Shifting boundaries: Doing social science in the 1990s—A personal odyssey

Drawing on my own 40 years as a social scientist, I argue, as have others in recent years, that rather than a contaminant, one's own biography can be a useful tool in social analysis. I place my personal struggle with this issue in a larger cultural context and point to a shift in the boundaries between public and private, which has profound implications for the way we teach, write, and do research.Presidential address delivered at the Eastern Sociological Society Annual Meetings, Baltimore, Maryland, March 19, 1994.