[DOWNLOAD] "Gender Differences in Attitudes About Fat." by North American Journal of Psychology # eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Gender Differences in Attitudes About Fat.
- Author : North American Journal of Psychology
- Release Date : January 01, 2006
- Genre: Education,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 187 KB
Description
This study tests the hypotheses that women internalize the societal value of thinness by showing body dissatisfaction and food restriction while men externalize by showing a dislike of fat people. In comparing 53 male and 142 female college students, we found that women were more likely to restrict food and showed more body dissatisfaction. Despite the fact that men were larger than women on average, they were relatively satisfied with their bodies. However, men were more likely to show dislike of fat people than women. Body dissatisfaction and dislike of fat people were negatively correlated suggesting that these constitute distinct responses. Results suggest that men and women adopt different cognitive strategies to cope with the American emphasis on thinness. North American society's emphasis on diet and exercise has led to what has been called a "culture of slimness" (Thompson, Heinberg, Altabe, & Tantleff-Dunn, 1999). Slim media images of men and women are ubiquitous. Although these images increasingly feature men with low body weights and six-pack abdomens (Harvey & Robinson, 2003), men still tend to be relatively satisfied with their bodies when compared to women (Rozin, Trachtenberg, & Cohen, 2001). In fact, a recent meta-analysis indicates that the gender differences in body dissatisfaction are increasing, with women becoming more dissatisfied relative to men (Feingold & Mazzella, 1998). Men also continue to be less susceptible to eating disorders (Hoek & van Hoeken, 2003). For example, the ratio of women to men with anorexia nervosa is greater than 10:1 (van Hoeken, Seidell, & Hoek, 2003). It may be the case that societal pressure to be thin results in different cognitive patterns among men and women. Some evidence (Crandall, 1994) suggests that women internalize the value of thinness. That is, women have a tendency to focus on their own bodies and thus become fearful of becoming fat, a pattern that results in body dissatisfaction. Men, in contrast, externalize the value of thinness. Unlike women, men focus on other people's bodies and consequently show dislike of fat people. This pattern is similar to the gender differences shown for depression in which women are more likely to internalize negative affect through rumination and men are more likely to externalize negative affect through distraction or problem-solving (Nolen-Hoeksema, 1987). The present study tests the internalization and externalization hypotheses by examining body satisfaction, food restriction, and dislike of fat people in male and female college students.