Review of body image and some of contributing factors in Iranian population

Abstract

Body image is the perception of individuals of their own body and it can be affected by many variables such as culture, social pressure, and media, but it is not limited to these factors. Body image disturbances are important because they lead to severe physical or psychological health problems. Development of body image dissatisfaction in Eastern communities has been increased in the past years. Despite many studies in Asian societies, In Iran, studies are scattered and limited. Our goal is a better understanding of this matter in Iran. A review of scientific literature about Body Image and Iran was conducted inPubMed, Web of Science, Science Direct, Scopus, and ProQuest, also in Persian scientific databases such as Scientific Information Database (SID) and Thematic Guide to Iranian Publications (MAGIRAN). This search has been conducted in January 2018. Out of 389 articles, 44 of them were selected. In these articles, study period, sample characteristics, type of study, contributing variables, type of statistical analysis, and the main result of each article were extracted. Despite using different methods for detection of body dissatisfaction, results showed that this problem has a high prevalence in Iranian population. Contributing factors were also similar to the world findings. Review of studies regarding body dissatisfaction in Iran, revealed a high prevalence of this problem. It seems there is a need for interventional programs to prevent the negative consequences of body dissatisfaction, especially in teenagers and young people. Future studies with scientific or longitudinal design, which lead to better results, are recommended.

Association of Health Status and Health Behaviors with Weight Satisfaction vs. Body Image Concern: Analysis of 5888 Undergraduates in Egypt, Palestine, and Finland

“…Conversely, there are cultural differences between young adults living within different social systems and dissimilar social changes, for example, Finland as a Nordic country with different social behavior, religiosity, social norms, and living conditions. Such views agree with postulations that self-perception of one's body is associated with culture and social pressure [32,33], as the creation of beauty ideals happens during socialization where parents and caregivers communicate to their kids their culture-specific patterns of beauty [3,34]. Despite the fact that globalization affects the homogeneity of cultures, the native culture of each region keeps some of its trends that are maintained by internal mechanisms [33].There is a range of variables that are important to consider when examining body image across different countries.…”

“…Such views agree with postulations that self-perception of one's body is associated with culture and social pressure [32,33], as the creation of beauty ideals happens during socialization where parents and caregivers communicate to their kids their culture-specific patterns of beauty [3,34]. Despite the fact that globalization affects the homogeneity of cultures, the native culture of each region keeps some of its trends that are maintained by internal mechanisms [33].There is a range of variables that are important to consider when examining body image across different countries. These include, for instance, gender, BMI, body image dissatisfaction, lifestyle characteristics, such as physical activity and food environments, and mental wellbeing variables,…”

“…Distortion of and dissatisfaction with body image may form a link between overweight and obesity, as excessive preoccupation with appearance and pursuit of the ideal lean body can produce negative feelings and devaluation, resulting in changes in eating behavior, leading to overweight [4,5]. Body image concerns can also negatively affect social for example, depressive symptoms, finance-related stress, as well as health awareness and self-rated health [32,33,[35][36][37][38][39].…”

Relationship Between Body Dissatisfaction, Depression and Anxiety Among Young Adults

“…Furthermore, the components that easily affect the characterization of body image are Body Mass Index (Winter, Combs, & Ward, 2018), Family Pressure (Goodman, 2005), Societal and Peer Pressure (Al-Sheyab, Gharaibeh & Kheirallah, 2018), Media (Altaf, 2016), Social Media (Salomon & Brown, 2019), Self-Esteem (Kim, 2018), and many more (Silva, Ferriani & Viana, 2019). Shoraka, Amirkafi, and Garrusi (2019) explored further factors involved in influencing body image and its related disorders in which body dissatisfaction was found to be an inclining factor for serious health complications. In public, there are misconceptions about achieving an ideal body image, especially females (Northrop, 2012) because of which individuals indulge in restricted diet, calorie deficient intake, excessive use of laxatives, supplements and overexercising (Shoraka, Amirkafi, & Garrusi, 2019).…”

“…Shoraka, Amirkafi, and Garrusi (2019) explored further factors involved in influencing body image and its related disorders in which body dissatisfaction was found to be an inclining factor for serious health complications. In public, there are misconceptions about achieving an ideal body image, especially females (Northrop, 2012) because of which individuals indulge in restricted diet, calorie deficient intake, excessive use of laxatives, supplements and overexercising (Shoraka, Amirkafi, & Garrusi, 2019). This can lead to multiple complications related to their physical and psychological well-being (Griffiths et al, 2016;Lantz et al, 2018;Laporta-Herrero et al, 2018).…”