1. BODY IMAGE DISSATISFACTION AND SOCIOCULTURAL INFLUENCES AMONG ADOLESCENTS IN SUBANG JAYA, SELANGOR Shobhna P. & Rosnah S.

2. Introduction Body image concerns every stage of life
Preoccupation > prevalent in adolescence
Concern over the adverse effect on health is more serious in this stage as adolescents are more vulnerable to influences, more keen to rebel and are in search of their identity (Tger Bogt 2006; Bell et al. 2007).

3. General Objective
To determine socio-cultural factors (peer, parents and media) influences on body image dissatisfaction (AE and BASS) among adolescents.

4. The sociocultural influences that was studied in this research were media, parental and peer influences as these factors have been identified as the most important influencing factors in adolescents’ body image perception.

5. Body Image Dissatisfaction
Sociocultural Influences
Media Influences
Peer Influences
Parental Influences
Age
Gender
Race
Father’s Education
Mother’s Education
Socio- demographic Factors
Body Image Dissatisfaction
Appearance Evaluation
(AE)
Body Area Satisfaction Scale (BASS)

6. Body Image Dissatisfaction
Sociocultural Influences
Media Influences
Peer Influences
Parental Influences
Age
Gender
Race
Father’s Education
Mother’s Education
Household Income
Socio- demographic Factors
Body Image Dissatisfaction
Appearance Evaluation
(AE)
Body Area Satisfaction Scale (BASS)
taps satisfaction or dissatisfaction with discrete aspects of one’s appearance such as height, face, weight and hair.
Measures the feelings of physical attractiveness or unattractiveness; satisfaction or dissatisfaction with one’s looks or appearance.

7. Methodology

8. Methodology
Study Design - Cross Sectional Design Study Location - 9 national secondary schools in Subang Jaya Sample population – students aged between 15 and 17 years old. Sampling method – Simple random sampling

9. Methodology
2 subscales of the MBSRQ-AS was used to indicate body image dissatisfaction among adolescents.
Appearance Evaluation (AE) - measures the feelings of physical attractiveness or unattractiveness; satisfaction or dissatisfaction with one’s looks.
Body Area Satisfaction Scale (BASS) - taps satisfaction or dissatisfaction with discrete aspects of one’s appearance such as height, face, weight and hair.

10. Sociocultural Influence
The main reference - Tripartite Influence Model (Keery et al 2004).
This model includes three main subscale that influence body image dissatisfaction; the media, peer and parents influence (Shroff and Thompson, 2004).

11. Result

12. Mean ± Standard Deviation
Distribution for Body Image Dissatisfaction (Appearance Evaluation) by socio demographic and socio economic factors. N
Mean ± Standard Deviation P
Sex
Male
Female
180
201
3.56 ± 0.67
3.31 ± 0.66
< 0.001
Ethnicity
Malay
Indian
Chinese
Others
116 63
198 4
3.49 ± 0.63
3.57 ± 0.72
3.36 ± 0.68
3.42 ± 0.62
0.110
Father’s Education
Lower than Secondary
Secondary
College / University 11
254
3.08 ± 0.61
3.38 ± 0.71
3.47 ± 0.66
0.102
Mother’s Education 15
165
2.87 ± 0.92
3.39 ± 0.63
3.50 ± 0.67
0.003*

13. Mean ± Standard Deviation
Distribution for Body Image Dissatisfaction (Body Area Satisfaction Scale) by socio demographic and socio economic factors. n
Mean ± Standard Deviation P
Sex
Male
Female
180
201
3.39 ± 0.70
3.17 ± 0.69
0.002*
Ethnicity
Malay
Indian
Chinese
Others
116 63
198 4
3.35 ± 0.69
3.28 ± 0.73
3.22 ± 0.71
3.39 ± 0.46
0.432
Father’s Education
Lower than Secondary
Secondary
College / University 11
254
2.77 ± 0.80
3.16 ± 0.70
3.35 ± 0.68
0.003*
Mother’s Education 15
165
2.73 ± 0.98
3.20 ± 0.64
3.37 ± 0.71
0.001*

14. 95% Confidence Interval for B
Multiple Regression Analysis for Body Image Dissatisfaction – AE and Influencing Factors
Variables
Standardized Coefficients ß t
P value
95% Confidence Interval for B
Lower Bound
Upper Bound
Male
Media Influence
-0.242
-3.346
0.001
-0.329
-0.085
Father's Education
-0.034
-0.402
0.688
-0.254
0.168
Mother's Education
-0.047
-0.558
0.577
-0.266
0.149
Female
0.138
1.887
0.061
-0.006
0.254
0.039
0.507
0.613
-0.138
0.233
-0.188
-2.394
0.018
-0.381
-0.037

15. 95% Confidence Interval for B
Multiple Regression Analysis for Body Image Dissatisfaction – BASS and Influencing Factors
Variables
Standardized Coefficients ß t
P value
95% Confidence Interval for B
Lower Bound
Upper Bound
Male
Media Influence
-0.093
-1.242
0.216
-0.215
0.049
Father's Education
-0.080
-0.915
0.361
-0.334
0.122
Mother's Education
-0.098
-1.121
0.264
-0.352
0.097
Female
0.257
3.684
<0.001
0.113
0.373
-0.058
-0.785
0.433
-0.260
0.112
-0.086
-1.151
0.251
-0.273
0.072

16. Discussion
Body image dissatisfaction among adolescents in Subang Jaya was significantly different between male and females with female showing higher dissatisfaction with their body image compared to males as done in other body image studies.

17. No significant difference among ethnicity
Media and Parents’ education level significantly predicted body image dissatisfaction

18. Limitations Data from this study were obtained from self- report
Validity in terms of Malaysian Population
The parental influence was measured and analyzed as one entity
External factors that would have confounded this current study were not included.
Nature of study could not draw a causal relationship between the sociocultural influences and the body image dissatisfaction

19. Conclusion
Sociocultural influence on body image dissatisfaction generally is becoming a global phenomenon. Thin idealization has created many problems among youths such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia and substance abuse. Model and beauty contestants are becoming thinner over the years. Body dissatisfaction among male is also becoming more and more prevalent.

20. Recommendation
Schools and other organization that are associated with adolescents should ensure that healthy and positive body image are promoted to them.

21. Recommendation Role of parents Role of teachers
Role of health care provider and society
Should encompass ; Knowledge, attitude, practice, communication skills, ability to detect body image disturbance and promoting healthy body image.
Provide adolescents with basic media literacy skills. Empowerment - to take action in addressing media messages that perpetuate poor body image.

22. Thank You