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Cultural and Psychosocial Determinants of Weight Concerns
- Judith Rodin, PhD
- From Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut. Requests for Reprints: Judith Rodin, Box 11A, Yale Station, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520-7447.
Abstract
Several sociocultural and psychological factors underlie Western society's intense preoccupation with the body. These factors include the social value of attractiveness, the strong correlation between attractiveness and perceived fitness, the interrelation among attractiveness, a good body image, and feelings of self-worth, and the relation between pressures to succeed in both the appearance- and work-related domains. The strong societal emphasis on appearance and slimness has translated to both intense body preoccupation and a willingness to try almost any weight-loss strategy. Thus, dieting occurs across all weight categories in response to these powerful social and psychological motivators.
In this technology-driven society, the goal of looking good seems possible for anyone who works hard enough, exercises long enough, and eats little enough. Because Americans believe that good looks and good bodies are attainable by anyone, they spend billions of dollars on beautymore money than they spend on social services or education [1]. The quest for the perfect body is not easy, however. It leaves most people feeling frustrated, ashamed, and defeated much of the time. Both sociocultural and psychological factors underlie this intense preoccupation with the body.
Sociocultural Influences
Social Value of Attractiveness
People in Western society strive for physical perfection. Such may also be true for non-Western societies, but little systematic study of historical or current aspects of body image in non-Western countries has been done [2]. Although physical appearance has been associated with status and esteem since the time of the ancient Greeks, modern society has gone to new lengths to reward those thought to embody the ideal. Research supports the hypothesis that what is beautiful is goodthat physically attractive persons are thought to possess many positive attributes, which include having a more desirable personality and being more satisfied and successful socially, professionally, and maritally [37]. When attractiveness is defined as a desirable physique, men and women of all ages have a more favorable view of people who approximate their idea of physical perfection [812].
Although the industrialization of beauty and current social trends have raised the stakes, the concern with appearance and weight is clearly not simply an aberration of contemporary Western culture. Every period of history has had its own standards of what is beautiful and what is not [13]. Each culture develops different notions about the proper size, shape, and decoration of the body. However, in contemporary Western society, technology has enabled these concerns to reach new heights [14].
In the last few decades, there has been a marked trend toward an increasingly thin ideal in women's beauty [15]. For example, comparing measurements of contestants in the Miss America Pageant between 1959 and 1978, Garner and coworkers documented a significant decrease in body weight and in measurements during the 20-year period [16]. The percent of average weight of Playboy centerfolds dropped from 91% in 1960 to less than 88% in 1970 and to 83% in 1978. Yet, while the ideal has become leaner in the past 20 years, women have actually become heavier [17].
Until recently, men in Western cultures were rarely judged by rigid criteria concerning physical appearance [18]. Now, however, magazines and television celebrate the young, lean, and muscular male body [1921]. Men's fashions have changed to accentuate a new physique, which is thought to be more muscular and trim than it was in the past [22]. Today, men are marketing targets for products such as diet soda and cosmetics, which only a few years ago would have been considered feminine. A recent study of more than 1000 male business school graduates showed a strong relation among weight, height, and income [23]. Men who were at least 20% overweight made $4000 less per year, and the salary differential between overweight and lean men increased over time.
In 1986, Psychology Today published the results of a survey on appearance and weight [24]. Only 12% of the readers indicated that they had little concern about their appearance and did not do much to improve it. People who return a survey on body image might be likely to care more than most about their appearance, but the results of the survey were similar to those from studies in which participants were selected randomly [25, 26]. People today feel intense pressure to look good.
An earlier survey on body image was published in Psychology Today in 1973 [27]. The respondents of the 1970s were more satisfied with their bodies than were those of the 1980s. For both sexes, the pressure to look good intensified during these 15 years. The 1986 survey also showed how important weight is to body image. More than 40% of the men and 50% of the women were unhappy with their weight.
Attractiveness and Fitness
The new look for women of the 1990s is still lean, but now there is the added pressure to be fit [28]. The emphasis on health and fitness is a new social force pushing increased body awareness [29]. Managing weight and enhancing fitness are important goals for health promotion: The risk for illness such as heart disease, may be diminished by appropriate changes in behavior. Although this change has been crucial for preventive medicine, the social consequences of this new ethos may have some negative components [30]. Looking healthy now signifies being healthy. Body size is seen, in part, as a reflection of our ability to engage in self-corrective behavior [31].
Psychological Determinants of Body Image
To understand fully weight concerns and pressures to be slim, it is important to consider the psychological determinants of body image. Body image represents an individual's subjective experience with his or her body and the way he or she organizes this experience [32]. Body image plays a major role in self-concept, a complex structure that embraces not only the body but also social roles, material possessions, and personal relationships. However, the body is often the central element. The aspect of the body image that women most frequently distort is size. Many studies have documented women's consistent exaggeration of their body as a whole as well as specific body parts, typically the fat-bearing areas of waist and hips [3336]. These estimation errors appear to be specific to one's own body. The same women accurately judge the body size of other people.
Body Focus
Heightened focus on the body further increases its influence on a person's sense of self. Studies have been done in which people were given a mirror or were shown videotapes of themselves and asked to focus on their bodies [37, 38]. People reacted to their mirror image by becoming more aware of all aspects of themselves, even those that are not visible. This kind of increased body awareness lowers self-esteem. The more people focus on their bodies, the more they scrutinize themselves and feel guilty. Generally, the experience of looking at one's own body in the mirror tends to provoke negative feelings, not only toward the body but also toward the inner self. Other studies have shown that intensified self-awareness also leads to increased conformity [38], that is, the more people focus on the body and its flaws, the more they try to be like everyone else.
Attractiveness, Body Image, and Self-Worth
Attractiveness figures prominently in an individual's feelings of self-worth [39]. The high value society places on appearance enhances an attractive person's self-confidence and challenges an unattractive person's sense of self-worth. More attractive persons are likely to have been more popular and to have been rewarded as children and to be more successful in school, career, and intimate relationships [40, 41]. The cultural view of attractiveness mediates the association between perceived attractiveness and self-worth. On the other hand, persons who suffer from low self-esteem often perceive deficiencies in all areas relevant to self-worth, including appearance.
Changing gender roles in contemporary society are influencing the way in which the sexes view their bodies. Ironically, the importance of adhering to whatever is prescribed as the beauty ideal of the moment may have increased precisely because women have achieved equality with men in most other areas. Looking like the current beauty ideal may serve an instrumental and somewhat paradoxical end of furthering a woman's success in a man's world. Women who are successful in previously male-dominated professions often need both to minimize their female status and to retain it. Several studies have documented that physically attractive women are perceived as more feminine [42]. Looking feminine, while displaying unfeminine ambition and power, may serve to affirm a woman's identity to herself and others.
It has also been suggested that professional women aspire to be thinner because slimness is the antithesis of the ample female body. It represents an unconscious rejection of the role of woman only as mother, a traditional woman, the family caretaker [43]. Studies have also shown that people associate a full-bodied build with decreased competence and lower intelligence [44, 45].
Men's concern with appearance also seems to have been affected by shifting gender roles and expectations. Formerly, a man could be assured of his masculinity by virtue of his occupation, his interests, or certain personality characteristics [46]. Now, for many men, a muscular physique is the symbolic embodiment of desirable personal characteristics. Men experience an intimate relation between body image and potency. As their roles become less gender specific, their bodies may have become the expression of their sense of gender.
Attractiveness relates to self-acceptance for both sexes, but attractiveness and body attitudes are a more salient component of self-concept for women than for men [47]. This begins at least by adolescence. Adolescent girls are more concerned with their looks than are boys, and they also perceive themselves to be less attractive. Girls who perceive themselves to be less good-looking have lower self-esteem scores than do girls who are more satisfied with their appearance [48]. Men and women have fundamentally different concepts of the body. Men tend to see their bodies as functional and active, that is, as tools that need to be in shape and ready for use. Women view their bodies more along aesthetic and evaluative dimensions [49].
Pressure to Succeed
Today, women feel intense competitive pressure to achieve in various domains, including the workplace. Perfectionism and a strong achievement orientation appear to be psychological states that are risk factors rather than protective factors for weight preoccupation. For many women, appearance is a traditional competitive arena, and the pressures to look good have escalated now that work-related success also appears to be influenced by how good one looks [50].
Conclusions
For both sociocultural and psychological reasons, considerable emphasis is now placed on weight and appearance. For many people, this emphasis translates to a willingness to try each new weight-loss technique and product and to an extreme body preoccupation and dissatisfaction. Understanding these issues is essential for developing appropriate recommendations for weight control and maintenance.
This material was abstracted from the author's book Body Traps, New York, William Morrow, 1992.
- Copyright 2004 by the American College of Physicians
