Verifying the association between body image dissatisfaction and goals to the physical activity practice. The sample consisted of 299 goers of fitness center, of both genders, with ages between 16 and 50 years old . Information about gender, age, educational level, socioeconomic level and goals for the physical activity practice were collected using a previously tests questionnaire. Regarding the goals, the participants should identify if the motivation for the practice was related to aspects health, aesthetic or social relationships aspects, choosing yes or no. The body image was determined using the set of silhouettes and to verifying the body image dissatisfaction we considered the difference between the current silhouette and the ideal silhouette pointed out by the individuals. Numerical variables were ex-pressed as mean ± standard deviation and categorical variables as absolute and relative frequency. Pearson’s chi-square test was used to verify the associations among goals to the practice, gender, and age group. Analysis of variance was used to verify the associations between the goals to the practice and the body image dissatisfaction. There was a low statistically significant correlation between body mass index and body image dissatisfaction (rs0.29-p < 0.001). The proportion of women (69%) who practiced physical activity with aesthetics goals was higher than that of men (31%). In addition, 92% of the sample showed body image dissatisfaction. Regarding the goals to the physical activity practice, men aimed more muscular body while the women wished more lean body. Men and women have different perceptions regarding body image.
According to Alvarenga et al. [
McPherson & Turnbull [
It should be noted that, in many cases the BID lead to the adoption of harmful behaviors in order to fit the idealized beauty model, but it is often far from healthy [
Thus, this article analyzes if the degree of BID serves to motivate individuals to increase the level of physical activity, or, on the contrary, if the dissatisfaction acts as an obstacle to the practice. Therefore, the objective was to evaluate the association between BID and the goals for the physical activity practice.
A cross-sectional study was conducted in the present research, 299 goers of eight fitness centers, of both genders, were randomly recruited. A pilot study was conducted at one of the fitness centers to verify if the issues were understandable and whether there was some need for changes to the instrument.
The applied methodology was approved by the Committee of Ethics in Research with human beings, under the protocol n. 261-2/2009 and the data were collected after the subjects signed the Free and Informed Consent Term. Regarding individuals with less than 18 years old, their parents or guardians have signed and authorizing the participation in the study.
The study included individuals aged between 16 and 50 years old, excluding those with special needs―physical or neurological―illiterate and pregnant. In order to collect data regarding sex, age, educational level, socioeconomic level and goals related to physical activity practice, a previously tested questionnaire was used.
The variable age was categorized into five groups: 16 to 20 years old; 21 to 30 years old; 31 to 40 years old and 41 to 50 years old; More than 50 years old. The categories of the educational level variable were: complete elementary education; complete high school; incomplete higher education; higher education; Postgraduate LatoSensu; Postgraduate StrictoSensu. The socioeconomic level expressed income in five categories: A (the highest); B; C; D and E (the lowest). In relation to the calculation of BMI, the formula weight (kg)/height (m) [
In relation to the goals, the participants should identify whether the motivation for the physical activity practice was related to health, aesthetic or social relations aspects. In addition, they should say yes (1) or no (0) for each objective. Subsequently, the relationship between these objectives and the BID was established.
In order to measure the BI, the set of silhouettes adapted by Damasceno [
With this type of instrument, it is possible to study the desire to change the body in terms of fat and muscles, which allows individuals to see the image they really want to achieve. The set of silhouettes was shown to the individuals, accompanied by the question: “What silhouette represents your current physical appearance (CS) and what silhouette would you like to have (IS)?” In order to guarantee the reliability of the answer, the interviewer declined his opinion on the choice of silhouettes. Afterwards, the difference between CS and IS was used.
Statistical analysis was performed using the SPSS 22.0 statistical package for Windows. Numerical variables were expressed as mean ± standard deviation and categorical variables as absolute and relative frequency. The associations between the goals for the physical activity practice, gender and age group were for the physical activity practice and BID were verified using analysis of variance
performed using the Pearson chi-square test. The associations between the goals with a classification criterion. A probability value p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.
The most of the individuals in the sample were female (62.2%), between 16 and 30 years old (63.2%), and belonged to socioeconomic level A (54.1%). Regarding the level of education, incomplete or complete higher education were de more prevalent categories (46.8%) (
The median BID observed was 2 (2 - 4) points, (these scores refer to the measure of median variability).
There was no statistically significant difference between men and women regarding BID (3.1 ± 2.3 vs 2.9 ± 2.0, F = 0.59, p = 0.442) or social relations (15.7 ± 2.0 vs. 15.8 ± 2.0, F = 0.05, p = 0.828).
Variables | n (%) |
---|---|
Gender | |
Female | 186 (62.2%) |
Male | 113 (37.8%) |
Age group | |
16 - 20 | 55 (18.4%) |
21 - 30 | 134 (44.8%) |
31 - 40 | 68 (22.7%) |
31 - 40 | 40 (13.4%) |
41 - 50 | 1 (0.3%) |
Schooling | |
Complete primary education | 22 (7.4%) |
Complete high School | 39 (13.0%) |
Incomplete higher education | 75 (25.1%) |
Complete higher Education | 65 (21.7%) |
Postgraduate Lato Sensu | 64 (21.4%) |
Postgraduate Stricto Sensu | 31 (10.4%) |
Socioeconomic level | |
D | 1 (0.3%) |
C | 24 (8%) |
B | 93 (31.1%) |
A | 162 (54.1%) |
Values express absolute and relative frequency.
Regarding the associations of BID and age and social relations, the analysis showed that were statistically similar (F = 0.81, p = 0.517 and F = 1.37, p = 0.244, respectively). The BID and social relations also did not differ significantly between subjects who practiced physical activity until 90 minutes, from 90 to 120 minutes and more than 120 minutes (F = 1.20, p = 0.304 and F = 2.40, p = 0.092, respectively).
There was a statistically significant positive correlation between BMI and BID (rs = 0.29, p < 0.001). It was found that, for each increase in one unit in the BMI, the BID varied in 0.3 point (with a mean of 0.69), being lower among men than among the women, after adjusting for BMI.
The men had significantly higher BMI than the women (25.3 ± 2.7 vs 22.3 ± 3.0, F = 67.46, p < 0.001). As for BID, the mean score among men was significantly higher than among women (3.7 ± 1.8 vs 2.2 ± 1.7, p < 0.001).
In relation to the association between BID and goals for the practice of physical activity, it was found that the proportion of women who practiced physical activity with aesthetic goals was higher than that of men (69.2% versus 30.8%, P = 0.07), as described in
Objective for the practice of physical activity | |||
---|---|---|---|
Health (n = 231) | Aesthetic (n = 159) | Social relationships (n = 18) | |
Gender | |||
Male | 93 (40.3%) | 49 (30.8%) | 8 (44.4%) |
Female | 138 (59.7%) | 110 (69.2%) | 10 (55.6%) |
Age group | |||
16 - 20 | 39 (16.9%) | 32 (20.1%) | 3 (16.7%) |
21 - 30 | 99 (42.9%) | 78 (49.1%) | 8 (44.4%) |
31 - 40 | 58 (25.1%) | 31 (19.5%) | 4 (22.2%) |
31 - 40 | 34 (14.7%) | 18 (11.3%) | 3 (16.7%) |
41 - 50 | 1 (0.43%) | 0 | 0 |
BID | 2.9 ± 2.0 | 2.9 ± 2.2 | 3.4 ± 2.5 |
BID: Body image dissatisfaction. Values express absolute and relative frequency or mean ± standard deviation.
In the present sample, which the most prevalent category was 21 to 30 years old, the percentile of BID was 92%. Evidences from international research indicate that this prevalence has increased over the years.
The study by Markey & Markey [
In this study, women were more dissatisfied than men with their body image, even after controlling for BMI. Tessmer et al. [
According to Costa et al. [
According Bosi et al. [
In this aspect, the literature shows that many women perceive themselves as obese, without their BMI falling into this classification. McGee et al. [
However, BID usually leads people to start a physical activity program, Oliveira [
As result, Zequinão et al. [
In this study, the main reasons for practicing physical activity in both genders were health, followed by aesthetics, more motivating for women, and finally the social factor.
For Damasceno et al. [
Telles & Moreira [
For Tahara, Schwartz & Silva [
In the study by Lopes & Chiapeta [
But, for Balbinotti & Capozzoli [
A different result was obtained by Siqueira [
In general, one of the factors that may explain the high interest in reducing body weight, especially by the female audience, is the media, which imposes anorexic standard of body aesthetics, motivating women with less age, a group considered as more suggestible, to adopt such behavior [
The physical fitness motive still presented a negative but not significant correlation with BMI, % G and BID, suggesting a possible inverse relation. However, the weight control motive in the multivariate analysis was not associated with BID. However, it showed a greater effect in the model that used the % G (F = 8.26) than with the BMI (F = 6.09), suggesting that the amount of body fat exerts a greater influence on the reason for loss/weight control than the BMI. Perhaps because BMI does not discriminate the effects of overweight from muscle mass and fat, so individuals with similar values may have different clinical representations.
In this study, the social relation objective was not significantly associated with BID. On this, Bastos et al. [
Although we have found little research with the objective of identifying the reasons for the practice of physical activity and to analyze its relation with BI in adults attending fitness center, it seems that most of the reported studies points as the main reason for the search of the practice of physical is aesthetic activity, which is closely related to the search for the change of the current body image.
The findings of this study indicate that 92% of the studied sample showed BID, women are more dissatisfied than men with their BI and that men aim a more muscular body and women a slimmer one.
Regarding the association between BID and goals for the practice of physical activity, no statistically significant difference was observed among those who practiced physical activity with health, aesthetic or social relations goals.
This panorama is worrisome, leading us to reflect on strategies that aim to increase corporal acceptance, considering that the observed trend can be considered an epidemic.
The authors declare that there isn’t conflict of interest.
Da Cunha, C.B.V., Klain, I.P., Rombaldi, A.J. and Leitão, J.C. (2018) Association between Body Image Dissatisfaction and Goals for Physical Activity Practice in Fitness Center. Open Access Library Journal, 5: e4621. https://doi.org/10.4236/oalib.1104621