Relationships Between Men's and Women's Body Image and Their Psychological, Social, and Sexual Functioning - Men's and Women's Body Image and Their Psychological, Social, and Sexual Functioning

Written by Tanya E. Davison, Marita P. McCabe

Women reported a lower level of body image satisfaction, F(1, 381) = 35.92, p < .001, and a higher level of social physique anxiety, F(1, 381) = 64.87, p < .001, than men did (see Table II). Women also reported concealing their bodies more frequently than men did, F(1, 381) = 130.38, p < .001, and they were more likely than men to engage in appearance comparisons, F(1, 381) = 25.61, p < .001. However, there were no differences between men and women in their ratings of physical attractiveness, body image importance, or level of engagement in efforts to improve their bodies.

After we controlled for the effects of BMI, we found significant differences between age groups in body image satisfaction, F(2, 381) = 11.74, p < .001, and body concealment, F(2, 381) = 5.52, p < .01; men and women in their 30s and 40s reported lower satisfaction with their bodies, and more frequent attempts to conceal their bodies, than did other participants (see Table II). Social physique anxiety scores also differed significantly between age groups, F(2, 381) = 18.97, p < .001; individuals in late adulthood reported a lower level of concern about others evaluating their bodies than did the younger participants. In addition, level of engagement in appearance comparison differed significantly between age groups, F(2, 381) = 12.34, p < .001; individuals in late adulthood were less likely than others to make appearance comparisons. Ratings of physical attractiveness, body image importance, and body improvement did not differ significantly between participants of different age groups.

Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted in order to determine which aspects of body image most strongly predicted each psychological (i.e., self-esteem, depression, anxiety), social (i.e., same-sex relations, opposite-sex relations, social anxiety), and sexual functioning (i.e., sexual self-efficacy, sexual optimism, sexual satisfaction) variable. Separate analyses were conducted for men and women in each age group, as it was considered likely that the relationships would vary with both gender and age. In order to reduce the large number of independent body image variables for inclusion in each analysis, only those variables that significantly correlated with the dependent variable for each group were entered into the analysis. It was decided to control for the effects of self-esteem, depression, anxiety, and BMI, if they correlated significantly with the dependent variable. In addition, perceived relations with the other sex were considered as a potential control variable in analyses to predict sexual functioning. Control variables were entered as independent variables on the first step of each analysis, and body image variables were included as additional independent variables on the second step. The level of significance is typically corrected when there are a high number of contrasts. However, given the exploratory nature of these analyses, it was decided to consider effects significant at an alpha less than .05.

Results indicated that inclusion of body image variables at the second step significantly increased the prediction of self-esteem beyond that predicted by control variables among men in early adulthood, F change (5, 55) = 2.88, p < .05, middle adulthood, F change (4, 50) = 5.36, p < .001, and late adulthood, F change (4, 59) = 4.66, p < .01. The unique body image predictors of high self-esteem were positive ratings of physical attractiveness and a low rating of body image importance among men in early adulthood, a low level of body concealment among men in middle adulthood, and a low tendency to compare their appearance with others and high body image satisfaction among men in late adulthood (see Table III). Body image variables also significantly increased the prediction of self-esteem among women in early adulthood, F change (3, 50) = 4.60, p < .01, middle adulthood, F change (6, 84) = 5.41, p < .001, and late adulthood, F change (3, 56) = 4.37, p < .01. Although there were no unique body image predictors of self-esteem for women in early adulthood, low social physique anxiety and a low rating of body image importance predicted self-esteem among women in middle adulthood, and positive ratings of physical attractiveness predicted high self-esteem among women in late adulthood.

Inclusion of body image variables failed significantly to increase the prediction of depression or anxiety beyond the effect of control variables among most groups. However, body image variables entered at the second step significantly increased the prediction of depression among women in late adulthood, F change (4, 46) = 4.57, p < .01; high social physique anxiety acted as a unique body image predictor (see Table III). Body image variables entered at the second step significantly increased the prediction of anxiety among men in late adulthood, F change (2, 62) = 6.65, p < .01; a high level of appearance comparison acted as a unique body image predictor. For the predictor of anxiety among women in late adulthood, F change (4, 56) = 4.16, p < .01, although no specific body image predictor was found to explain unique variance.

Body image variables significantly increased the prediction of social anxiety at the second step, beyond the effect of control variables, among men in middle adulthood, F change (2, 52) = 4.54, p < .05; the unique body image predictor was a high level of appearance comparison (see Table IV). Inclusion of body image variables did not significantly increase the prediction of social anxiety among men in early or late adulthood, beyond the effect of control variables. Among women, inclusion of body image variables significantly increased the prediction of social anxiety during late adulthood, F change (6, 51) = 3.63, p < .01, but not at other ages. The unique body image predictors of social anxiety among women in late adulthood were high social physique anxiety and a high level of body improvement.