Body satisfaction among adolescents in eight different countries – Journal of Health Psychology

ABSTRACT

The current study examined body satisfaction and the value of body size among adolescents in Australia, Fiji, Malaysia, Tonga, Tongans in New Zealand, China, Chile and Greece. In total, 2489 adolescent females and 2152 males participated in the study. The results demonstrated that males were more satisfied with their body than females. Males generally had a lower BMI than females, except for males in China and Malaysia. Attitudes towards large bodies for males and females varied by cultural group. These results demonstrate the strong cultural similarities in body satisfaction, but the differences that occur in relation to a large body.

SOURCE: Marita P. McCabe, Matthew Fuller-Tyszkiewicz, David Mellor, Lina Ricciardelli, Helen Skouteris and Alex Mussap, “Body satisfaction among adolescents in eight different countries”, Journal of Health Psychology, July 2012 vol. 17 no. 5 693-701

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