Social physique anxiety and sociocultural attitudes toward appearance impact on orthorexia test in fitness participants

Abstract

This study investigates how scores on the Social Physique Anxiety Scale (SPAS) and the Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire (SATAQ) relate to Bratman's orthorexia test (BOT) scores with regard to age, sex, and self-reported exercise frequency and duration in a sample of Swedish participants in fitness center activities. A total of 251 participants (166 women and 85 men) completed the SPAS, the SATAQ, and a questionnaire focusing on exercise frequency and duration. The results indicated that the SATAQ subdomain internalization could itself explain the variation in BOT results. In women, the results indicated that exercise frequency, followed by SPAS score and the SATAQ subdomains internalization and awareness, could together explain the variation in BOT results. Fitness centers could make a point of emphasizing that some physical ideals are neither healthy nor realistic, thus strengthening member self-image and preventing social physique anxiety, eating disorders, and negative attitudes toward appearance.

An Examination of Social Physique Anxiety with Regard to Sex and Level of Sport Involvement

“…Especially for women, the atmosphere in exercise classes emphasizes development of a feminine body attaining ideal physique and the feeling of evaluation of physique by other participants create sort of rivalry about body shape and size (Maguire & Mansfield, 1998). Söderström stated that the cultural norms of fitness centers uphold a slim body ideal for women and a muscular body ideal for men (Eriksson, Baigi, Marklund & Lindgren, 2007). As reported by Katula, McAuley, Mihalko and Bane (1998), the aerobics environment is one in which the body is the central focus and exercisers often wear tight or revealing clothing in mirrored rooms, which can raise bodily awareness and also heighten social comparison and competition (Frederick & Shaw, 1995).…”

Ortorexia nervosa: reflexões sobre um novo conceito

“…Até o momento, são encontradas vinte e uma publicações, sendo apenas nove artigos originais de pesquisa [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17] . Os demais trabalhos consistem de: três artigos sobre a descrição e caracterização da ortorexia nervosa [18][19][20] , dois estudos de casos clínicos 21,22 e duas cartas ao editor 23,24 .…”

“…Empregando uma versão do BOT traduzida para o sueco por Rössner 27 . Eriksson et al 13 consideraram que se o respondente somasse menos que 5 pontos, sua atitude em relação aos alimentos era considerada saudável; entre 5 e 9, sua atitude alimentar era considerada "fanática por saúde", e somando 10 pontos (ao responder "sim" a todas as questões), seu relacionamento com os alimentos era considerado obsessivo, caracterizando a ortorexia nervosa. Korinth et al 17 utilizaram a versão alemã do BOT proposta por Kinzl et al 29 e computaram o escore obtido pela somatória das respostas positivas para as dez questões.…”

“…Eriksson et al 13 utilizaram o BOT em 251 praticantes de atividade física suecos de ambos os gêneros (85 homens e 166 mulheres) para avaliar o impacto de dois fatores sobre o teste de ortorexia nervosa: (a) ansiedade psicossocial e (b) atitudes socioculturais relacionadas com a aparên-cia física. Os participantes que obtiveram maiores escores no questionário de atitudes socioculturais relacionadas com a aparência física (SATAQ) no subdomínio internalização também tiveram altos escores no BOT.…”

Physical and Physiological Correlates of Social Physique Anxiety in College Students

“…Social physique anxiety which is defined as concern about others' negative evaluation of one's physique [1] may be recognized as a major problem, especially for young adult population, mainly due to its crucial role in the development of severe physical and psychological problems such as unhealthy eating behaviors [2] or low self-esteem [3]. Therefore, examination of social physique anxiety in young adult population is considered to be a matter of great importance.…”