PREDICTORS OF BODY IMAGE DISSATISFACTION AMONG GYM ACTIVE PARTICIPANTS

Abstract

Body image dissatisfaction is increasingly experienced by people across the world. Literature suggests that body image dissatisfaction negatively influences individual‟s mental wellbeing and its increased rates have implications at societal level as well. There are several factors operating at individual, familial and societal level which are associated with body image dissatisfaction in different populations and identification of these factors may help in addressing the issue appropriately. The present study aimed to assess the frequency of body image dissatisfaction in gym active participants of Islamabad. It assessed the nature of association of psycho social factors at individual, familial and societal level with body image dissatisfaction and their significance as predictors. A total of (N=230) males and females registered in eight selected gyms of Islamabad participated in this study. They completed study questionnaires to obtain data on body mass index, body image dissatisfaction and psycho-social factors. Independent sample T-test, One way Anova, Pearson product moment correlation and Hierarchical Regression Analysis were conducted for data analysis. Findings revealed that more than 50% of the participants reported body dissatisfaction with only a few people reported higher levels of body dissatisfaction. There were no statistically significant differences across gender, age and socioeconomic status in this sample. In bi-variate analysis, all psycho social factors (body mass index, internalization of body ideal, social comparison, positive and negative affectivity, pressures from family, peers and media) demonstrated significant association with body image dissatisfaction in predicted direction. However, in multivariate analysis only two factors, body mass index and negative affectivity showed significance at p ≤ .01. Findings of the study are discussed along with limitations. There is need for more research to study this phenomenon in different segments of populations in Eastern societies.