Body Image in Women during Midlife
https://doi.org/10.21603/2078-8975-2019-21-2-375-383
Abstract
The present paper deals with the body image formed in women during the period of middle adulthood, or midlife. The research featured Russian-speaking women, who demonstrated a global trend in that they expressed mainly negative ideas about their body and a standard dissatisfaction with their appearance. The women were concerned with their body weight, shape, and functional characteristics. In middle adulthood, body image is determined, to a large extent, by the exclusively female bodily experience, i.e. menstruation, pregnancy, childbirth, and breastfeeding. For instance, women with a positive attitude towards their own body were less likely to have abortions or miscarriages, complications during pregnancy and childbirth. In addition, they expressed more pronounced positive feelings associated with the movement of the fetus in the womb. In general, positive body image was found to form in those pregnant women who moved on from evaluating their appearance to evaluating the functionality of their body. The data also showed that the body image in women aged 25–40 depended on the body mass index: women with a lower body mass index had a more positive body image.
About the Author
Ksenia N. Belogai
Kemerovo State University
Russian Federation
6, Krasnaya St., Kemerovo, Russia, 650000
Russian Federation
6, Krasnaya St., Kemerovo, Russia, 650000
References
1. Kharlanova L. V. Sociocultural strategies for regulating the reproductive bodily experience of women. Psychosomatics: physicality and culture, ed. Nikolaeva V. V. Moscow: Akademicheskii Proekt, 2009, 198–240. (In Russ.)
2. Beauvoir de S. The Second Sex. Vol. 1 and 2. Moscow: Progress; Saint-Petersburg: Aleteiia, 1997, 832. (In Russ.)
3. Golman E. A. Female corporality: theoretical approaches and prospects of sociological research. Cand. Sociol. Sci. Diss. Moscow, 2015, 239. (In Russ.)
4. Kaminskaya N. A., Ailamazyan A. M. Studies of the body image in various psychological approaches. National Psychological Journal, 2015, (3): 45–55. (In Russ.) DOI: 10.11621/npj.2015.0305
5. Piran N. New possibilities in the prevention of eating disorders: The introduction of positive body image measures. Body Image, 2015, 14: 146–157. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2015.03.008
6. McKinley N. M. Feminist perspectives and objectified body consciousness. Body Images: A Handbook of Theory, Research, and Clinical Practice, eds. Cash T. F., Pruzinsky T. N. Y.: Guilford Press, 2002, 3–12.
7. Pogontseva D. V. Socio-psychological characteristics of women's ideas about a beautiful woman. Cand. Psychol. Sci. Diss. Rostov-on-Don, 2010, 298. (In Russ.)
8. Cook-Cottone C. P. Incorporating positive body image into the treatment of eating disorders: A model for attunement and mindful self-care. Body Image, 2015, 14: 158–167. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2015.03.004
9. Jackson K. L., Janssen I., Appelhans B. M., Kazlauskaite R., Karavolos K., Dugan S. A., Avery E. A., Shipp-Johnson K. J., Powell L. H., Kravitz H. M. Body image satisfaction and depression in midlife women: the Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation (SWAN). Archives of Women’s Mental Health, 2014, 17(3): 177–187. DOI: 10.1007/s00737-014-0416-9
10. Jacobi C., Fittig E. Psychosocial risk factors for eating disorders. The Oxford Handbook of Eating Disorders, ed. Agras S. W. USA, 2010. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195373622.013.0008
11. Bearman S. K., Martinez E., Stice E. The skinny on body dissatisfaction: A longitudinal study of adolescent girls and boys. Journal of Youth Adolescence, 2006, 35(2): 217–229. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10964-005-9010-9
12. Rawana J. S. The relative importance of body change strategies, weight perception, perceived social support, and self-esteem on adolescent depressive symptoms: Longitudinal findings from a national sample. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 2013, 75(1): 49–54.
13. Stice E., Hayward C., Cameron R. P., Killen J. D., Taylor C. B. Body-image and eating disturbances predict onset of depression among female adolescents: A longitudinal study. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 2000, 109(3): 438–444. DOI: 10.1037/0021-843X.109.3.438
14. Crow S., Eisenberg M., Story M., Neumark‐Sztainer D. Suicidal behavior in adolescents: Relationship to weight status, weight control behaviors, and body dissatisfaction. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 2008, 41(1): 82– 87. DOI: 10.1002/ eat.20466
15. Jackson L. A., McGill O. D. Body type preferences and characteristics associated with attractive and unattractive bodies by African American and Anglo Americans. Sex Roles, 1996, 35(5-6): 295–307.
16. Ofosu H. B., Lafreniere K. D., Senn C. Y. Body image perception among women of African descent: A normative context? Feminism & Psychology, 1998, 8(3): 303–323. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0959353598083005
17. Deutsch H. The Psychology of Women. Vol. 2: Motherhood. US Grune & Stratton, 1980, 498.
18. Christian S. E. Body Image and Sex: How Women's Body Image Influences and Impacts Sexual Experiences. Theses and Dissertations – Family Sciences. 2017, 52. DOI: https://doi.org/10.13023/ETD.2017.127
19. Zinchenko Iu. P. Clinical psychology of human sexuality in the context of cultural and historical approach. Moscow: Prospekt, 2013, 144. (In Russ.)
20. Filippova G. G. Problems of physicality in the psychology of the reproductive sphere of women. Interdisciplinary problems of psychology of corporality: Proc. interdepartmental Sci. Prac. Conf. Moscow: MGU, 2004, 367–379. (In Russ.)
21. Bromley D. B. The Psychology of Human Ageing. UK: Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1971, 365.
22. Herbozo S. The development and validation of the Verbal Commentary on Physical Appearance Scale. Graduate Theses and Dissertations. 2004, 166.
23. Belogai K. N., Morozova I. S. Psychology of corporeality: problems of formation, directions of research, technology of psychological help. Kemerovo: KemGU, 2018, 204. (In Russ.)
24. Cooper P. J., Taylor M. J., Cooper Z. Fairburn C. G. The development and validation of the Body Shape Questionnaire. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 1986, 6(4): 485–494.
25. Belugina E. V. Attitude to appearance at midlife. Cand. Psychol. Sci. Diss. Rostov-on-Don, 2003, 199. (In Russ.)
26. Belogai K. N. The woman’s body image in the early adulthood period. Vektor nauki Tolyattinskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Seriya: Pedagogika, psikhologiya, 2018, (4): 37–45. (In Russ.) DOI: 10.18323/2221-5662-2018-4-37-45
Review
For citations:
Belogai K.N. Body Image in Women during Midlife. The Bulletin of Kemerovo State University. 2019;21(2):375-383. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.21603/2078-8975-2019-21-2-375-383
Views:
871
Email this article 