Adolescence and Body Image

From Development to Preventing Dissatisfaction

Lina A Ricciardelli, Zali Yager

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN: 9781848721999
• eBook ISBN: 9781317909675
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Developmental Psychology
• Index: Psychology

Body image is a significant issue for the majority of adolescents. Anxieties relating to body image can be crippling across both genders, their debilitating effects sometimes leading to mental health problems. This important book is the first of its kind to focus specifically on adolescents, providing a comprehensive overview of the biological, psychological and socio-cultural factors relating to the development of body image. It also provides a detailed review of the measures which can be taken to address body dissatisfaction.

Discussing the role of culture, family, peers, schools, sport and media in stimulating a negative body image, the book also examines the different challenges faced by girls and boys as they grow. Eating disorders and body change strategies are also addressed, as well as the challenges faced by youngsters affected by conditions causing visible differences, such as hair loss in cancer patients.The book also presents original research, including the results from a large Australian study of the body image and associated health behaviours of adolescent boys, and the results of a study of current teaching practices relating to body image.

Adolescence and Body Image will be ideal reading for students and researchers from a variety of fields, including developmental, health, and social psychology, sociology, and cultural and health studies. Professionals working with young people, whether in education, health promotion or any other allied discipline will also find this book an invaluable resource.

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INTRODUCTION

Our modern world places an inordinate emphasis on body image and appearance. It is everywhere and especially present in the lives of adolescents. Adolescence is a time of rapid development, and several factors during this period intensify adolescents’ focus on physical appearance and their bodies. These include puberty, peer culture, an interest in dating, and identity formation. In addition, young people perceive immense pressure to meet the appearance ideals portrayed and transmitted via different forms of media (TV, movies, social networking sites). These concerns permeate many aspects of adolescents’ lives and explain why body image concerns are rated among the most important issues affecting young people in today’s society. Thus adolescence is a central place to commence studying the development of body image and target the prevention of body image concerns in girls and boys.

What Is Body Image?

Body image is a broad term that refers to a person’s perceptions, thoughts, and feelings about his or her body (Cash, 2004; Grogan, 2008). There are four main elements:

The way we see our bodies (perceptual);

The way we feel about our bodies (affective);

The thoughts and beliefs we have about our bodies (cognitive);

The things we do because we are dissatisfied with our bodies (behavioural).

The majority of research in this area has focused on the construct of body dissatisfaction, and in particular dissatisfaction with body size, shape, or weight. Body dissatisfaction refers to the negative subjective evaluation of one’s own body in relation to overall appearance, shape, and weight or specific body parts (Grogan, 2008). It may range from mild discomfort to feelings of abject revulsion, disgust, and hatred. Other aspects of body image and related terms include: body esteem, appearance orientation, appearance evaluation, body type preference, body surveillance, body shame, and appearance anxiety.

Having a positive body image is not simply the opposite of being dissatisfied with one’s appearance, but rather involves a genuine appreciation of the body for its capabilities (Tylka, 2011). Those with a positive body image accept and value their bodies in a functional sense rather than what they look like. They have positive self-esteem, healthy attitudes towards food and eating, and are able to resist peer and media pressures to conform. On the other hand, those with body image concerns place an undue importance on their appearance, weight, size, or shape and avoid social and personal situations where they feel that they are being judged on their appearance. There is evidence to suggest that those with high levels of body image concerns engage in unhealthy weight control measures and may develop eating disorders and other associated behaviours such as steroid use.

Prevalence and Nature Body Image Concerns among Adolescents

Body image concerns are common among adolescents. In the largest survey of young people in Australia, body image was ranked third in the issues of personal concern, behind stress and school or study issues, among more than 15,000 young people aged 15 to 19. In total, 35.6% of adolescents, and more females (43%) than males (18.6%), indicated that body image was an important issue of personal concern (Mission Australia, 2012).

Girls

It is estimated that during preadolescence about 40 to 50% of girls report a preference to be thinner, and this increases to over 70% during adolescence (Wertheim & Paxton, 2011). Only about 10% of girls report a preference for a larger body size or weight, and most of these girls would want to be underweight (Wertheim & Paxton, 2011). In addition, several studies have examined the importance of being thin to adolescent girls, and this research shows that girls believe that being thinner makes them happier, healthier, better looking, and more successful with boys (Wertheim & Paxton, 2012). Adolescent girls score higher than boys in terms of body surveillance (e.g., “During the day, I think about how I look many times”), body shame (e.g., “I feel like I must be a bad person when I don’t look as good as I could”), and appearance anxiety (e.g., “I worry how others are evaluating how I look”) (Slater & Tiggemann, 2010).

The focus for girls is also primarily on the aesthetic qualities of their bodies, which they universally evaluate more negatively than the functional qualities, and they express a greater desire to change these aspects than do males (Abbott & Barber, 2011). Interestingly, when girls are asked to focus on the functional aspects of their bodies, they make fewer negative evaluations and express lower body dissatisfaction (Abbott & Barber, 2011).

Among girls, studies consistently show that body dissatisfaction progressively increases throughout middle adolescence and into early adulthood (Bucchianeri, Arikian, Hannan, Eisenberg, Neumark-Sztainer, 2013; Calzo et al., 2012; Jones, 2004; Rosenblum & Lewis, 1999). Two large and longitudinal studies from the U.S. showed significant increases in body dissatisfaction over time among girls from 12 to 18 years of age (Calzo et al., 2012) and from 12 to 24 years of age (Bucchianeri et al., 2013). Similarly, a longitudinal study in Norway demonstrated an increase in body dissatisfaction to the age of 21 and a plateau until the age of 30 (Holsen, Jones, & Birkeland, 2012).

Boys

Studies show that 40 to 70% of adolescent boys are dissatisfied with their body size and/or specific parts of their body (Almeida, Severo, Araújo, Lopes, & Ramos 2012; Huenemann, Shapiro, Hampton, & Mitchell, 1966; Lawler & Nixon, 2011; McCabe & Ricciardelli, 2004). However, while the majority of adolescent girls desire a thinner body size, adolescent boys are more equally divided between those who want a thinner body size and those who want a larger body size. In addition, while girls are more dissatisfied with their thighs, hips, and waist, boys are more dissatisfied with biceps, shoulders, chests, and muscles (Huenemann et al., 1966; Ricciardelli, McCabe, & Ridge, 2006). It is also important to note that although boys often desire more muscularity, this is often lean muscularity.

Another difference with boys is that the focus is more on the functional aspects of the body rather than the aesthetic focus that we see among girls (Abbott & Barber, 2010). Boys often display dissatisfaction and place more importance on aspects of body image that are desirable for playing sports. These include ‘size’, ‘height’, ‘speed’, ‘strength’, ‘fitness’, ‘stamina’, ‘endurance’, and ‘physical co-ordination’ (Ricciardelli et al., 2006).

The age-related changes for boys’ body image have been more variable. Some studies demonstrate that body dissatisfaction peaks at 13 to 14 years of age and then decreases as boys move through to later adolescence (Calzo et al., 2012), resulting in decreased body dissatisfaction levels among adolescent boys and young adult men aged 18 to 30 years (Eisenberg, Neumark-Sztainer, & Paxton, 2006; Holsen et al., 2012; Jones, 2004; Paxton, Eisenberg, & Neumark-Sztainer, 2006). Other research shows a consistent linear increase in body dissatisfaction from 12 to 24 years of age (Bucchianeri et al., 2013). This variability in findings is most likely due to the wide range of measures used to assess body image and to whether measures include an assessment of satisfaction with weight alone, muscularity alone, or both.

Adolescence as a Key Developmental Stage

Many researchers line up the commencement of adolescence with the start with puberty and mark the end of adolescence with legal adulthood, which is 18 years of age in Western countries (Hendry & Kloep, 2012; Slee, Campbell, & Spears, 2012; World Health Organisation, 2013). Other researchers feel that adolescence commences at the age of 12 or 13 years, which often corresponds with the start of secondary school (Gemelli, 1996; Hendy & Kloep, 2012). In addition, some conceptualise adolescence more broadly to span from 12 to 20 years; more recently this has been extended to the age of 25 years to encompass all of youth (Wise, 2000).

While researchers may not all agree with the definition of adolescence, all agree that a thorough understanding of adolescence requires integrating theories from a range of disciplines including anthropology, biology, education, ethology, history, psychology, and sociology. Importantly, adolescence is also viewed as the transition from childhood to adulthood and its cultural purpose as the preparation for adult roles. This involves the development of tasks such as achieving emotional independence, and choosing a career (Havighurst, 1953). There is also agreement that the majority of adolescents will move out of this stage at about 18 or 19 years with “an emancipated identity that is defined by the way in which he or she has cognitively processed the transactions between the biological, psychological, and social forces” (Gemelli, 1996, pp. 446–47).

Some researchers divide adolescence into an early phase, which includes the ages of 11/12 to 15 years, and a later phase, which includes the ages of 16 to 19 years (Cobb, 2010; Gemelli, 1996). Early adolescence is marked by the onset of puberty, changing gender roles, more autonomous relationships with parents, and more mature relationships with peers (Cobb, 2010). On the other hand, late adolescence is organised around the central task of achieving an identity, in which adolescents integrate their sexuality into their relationships, prepare for a career, and develop a personal set of beliefs (Cobb, 2010).

Throughout the last two centuries, adolescence has often been portrayed as a period of ‘storm and stress’ (Hall, 1904), and much of the focus has been on parent-adolescent conflict, emotional moodiness, and risk-taking behaviours (Slee et al., 2012). This portrayal of ‘storm and stress’ also underlies the psychoanalytic view of adolescence as summarised by Wise (2000, p. 7):

Adolescence—when we are no longer children and have not yet reached adulthood—is a time of much disturbance, change and potential growth. The adolescent is confronted with a body that stretches, changes and grows in all directions, as does her or his mind. … Normal adolescent development includes unpredictable and sudden changes in the adolescent’s mind, as he is confronted from the onset of puberty with inner turmoil, his emerging adolescent/adult sexuality and the constraints of his conscience. By contrast, fixed or inflexible feelings and behaviours are signs of psychopathology.

In addition to ‘storm and stress’ other main developmental theorists have focused on either the social or cognitive development of adolescents. For example, Erikson (1968) viewed the formation of an identity as one of the key tasks of adolescence. Erikson maintained that the adolescent’s developing sense of identity was evident in his/her psychosocial well-being and also demonstrable “when ‘at home’ in one’s body, family and social world” (Slee et al., 2012, p. 507). Thus, the development of a positive body image, which can be viewed as part of an adolescent’s identity, is pivotal.

In contrast to Erikson, Piaget, another influential developmental theorist, put more emphasis on cognitive development. The ‘formal operations’ stage is critical for Piaget, and this begins at about 11 years of age. It is marked by the ability for an individual to reason in an abstract manner (Piaget & Inhelder, 1969). It is this advance in abstract reasoning that allows adolescents to more fully reflect on their own attributes and compare themselves with others, which then can lead to more body image concerns.

Physical Changes

In addition to the important psychosocial and cognitive changes that occur during adolescence, the physical changes that occur during this period are very significant. Marked physical changes occur in height, weight, body composition, and the distribution of fat across the body (Shroff & Ricciardelli, 2012; Stang & Story, 2005). Before the age of 9 to 13, boys are taller and heavier than girls. However, these growth indicators are reversed at puberty, as girls enter their growth spurt and puberty about two year earlier than boys.

Generally girls will experience puberty between 10 and 14 years, although between 8 and 15 years is still considered developmentally normal. One of the first noticeable changes is a growth spurt in height. On average the growth spurt for girls begins between the ages of 8 and 13 years, and girls reach their full adult height between the ages of 10 and 16 years. Girls on average gain between 7 and 25 kg (15 and 55 lb) of weight during puberty and experience a 120% increase in body fat. Girls will also experience a widening of hips and the development of breasts. Breasts begin to bud on average between the ages of 8 and 13 years, and breast development is completed on average, between 14 and 15 years of age. Pubic hair appears for girls between the ages of 8 and 14 years and reaches full development between the ages of 14 and 15. Underarm hair appears between the ages of 10 and 16 years, and other body hair becomes thicker and coarser during this time. Head hair also becomes coarser and thicker and may even darken in colour.

During puberty, boys gain between 7 and 30 kg (15 and 65 lb). Boys’ peak weight gain occurs about the same time as their peak increase in height, that is, around 13.5 to 14 years of age. For boys there is also an increase in fat-free mass (muscle) with a minimal increment in fat mass, leading to a decrease in the percentage of body fat during the later stages of pubertal development. Overall, boys’ fat-free body mass increases faster and for a longer period than girls’. Boys reach the fat-free body mass of a young man at about 19 to 20 years of age.

Other notable physical changes during p...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgements
• 1 Introduction
• 2 Assessment and Measurement of Body Image
• 3 Body Change Strategies, Appearance Management, and Health
• 4 Physical and Biological Factors that Influence Body Image
• 5 The Media and Body Image
• 6 Peer Influences on Body Image
• 7 The Family
• 8 Culture and Other Sociocultural Factors
• 9 Individual Factors
• 10 Sport
• 11 The Impact of Schools and Teachers on Body Image
• 12 Preventing Body Dissatisfaction and Promoting Positive Body Image
• 13 What Next? Recommendations for Future Research
• Index