Percepção de dimensões corporais de adolescentes do sexo feminino

Abstract

Body image is a multi-dimensional construct that combines perceptions and attitudes about the body, particularly those that relate to physical appearance (Cash, Maikkula & Yamamiya, 2004). When body image perception is disturbed-most common amongst teenage girls (Shroff & Thompson, 2006), serious health risks may result, which include eating disorders and depression (Smolak, 2002). The purpose of this study was to assess the behavioral and perceptual aspects of body image in adolescent females with and without body image distortion, (BID) and (NBI). Specifically, it was to identify whether or not behavioral parameters are distinct between groups. The study attempted to verify, in both groups, levels of consistency in sub-components: affective, cognitive and perceptual, using tasks that portrayed the individual's own body as well as a stranger's body. Also assessed was whether or not perceptual parameters could it be determined, and whether or not perceptual parameters are different for tasks that include an individual's own body image versus those tasks that include a stranger's body image and a task with a neutral image. If differences existed between groups, the study attempted to assess whether or not body image disturbance, presence of eating disorder and BMI-body mass index (IMC) predicted levels of individual body dissatisfaction and magnitude of error when the individuals judged the dimensions of their own bodies. Forty-three participants comprised the NBI group, and ten participants comprised the BID group. In order to establish the behavioral components of body image, individuals in both groups were asked to complete questionnaires and inventories (BSQ, EAT, silhouette scale, SIL, and own body image scale, OBI). Also, psychophysical tasks were used to assess the perceptual components of body image. Results of the behavioral aspects related to body image showed that the two groups are different. The BID group exhibited higher levels of dissatisfaction with body image in both behavioral tasks, and also in the subcomponents of the OBI task. The participants perceived themselves as being overweight, felt obese, and wished to be of a normal weight. The BSQ predicted dissatisfaction levels using the SIL task; the BMI predicted dissatisfaction levels using the OBI task. Both groups exhibited similar performance in the perceptual tasks. The results indicated that the participants showed a super-constancy tendency during the tasks that employed body images as compared to the cube task. Magnitude of relative error showed that all the participants underestimated small-sized stimuli, and they overestimated the larger-sized stimuli. This ix study helped to expand the application of quantitative measures to level of body image dissatisfaction by including measures of individuals' own bodies. It also concluded that the individuals perceived neutral shapes differently than that of body shape.