Factors Relating to Social Physique Anxiety in Adolescent Girls

Lee, Eun Joo

Abstract

PURPOSE: This descriptive study was to explore the factors relating to Social Physique Anxiety(SPA) in the adolescent girls(N=700). These factors included the biological(level of school[age], period of menstruation, and BMI), the sociocultural(Influence of Mass Media, [IMM], Stereotype of Ideal Female Body[SIFB], type of school, perceived figure, and ideal figure) and the BW control-related factors(experience of bodyweight [BW] control, satisfaction at the result of BW control, and motive of BW control).
METHODS
The sample was 700 girls of the middle and high schools in Jeju-do. The data was collected by the self-reported questionnaire and processed with the SPSS Win 12.0 program. RESULT: 26% of the variance in SPA was explained by the biological factors(level of school) and the sociocultural factors (perceived figure, ideal figure, type of school, and IMM). SPA, IMM, and SIFB were significantly correlated with each others(r= 1.65-2.92, p<.05). The mean SPA scores according to BW control-related factors were significantly different.
CONCLUSION
This results suggest that media education is necessary to reduce or eliminate the adolescent girl's SPA. In addition, SPA needs to be considered as the important concept for the future nursing researches and interventions related to BW control.