San Jose State University SJSU ScholarWorks Master's Theses Master's Theses and Graduate Research Summer 2014 Perspiration and Motivation: An Examination of Body Image and Exercise Melissa Luu San Jose State University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.edu/etd_theses Recommended Citation Luu, Melissa, "Perspiration and Motivation: An Examination of Body Image and Exercise" (2014). DOI: https://doi.ebdr-3t8m https://scholarworks.edu/etd_theses/4474 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Master's Theses and Graduate Research at SJSU ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of SJSU ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact scholarworks@sjsu.
PERSPIRATION AND MOTIVATION: AN EXAMINATION OF BODY IMAGE AND EXERCISE A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of the Department of Psychology San José State University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts by Melissa A. Luu August 2014 © 2014 Melissa A. Luu ALL RIGHTS RESERVED The Designated Thesis Committee Approves the Thesis Titled PERSPIRATION AND MOTIVATION: AN EXAMINATION OF BODY IMAGE AND EXERCISE By Melissa A. Luu APPROVED FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY SAN JOSÉ STATE UNIVERSITY August 2014 Dr.
Gregory Feist Department of Psychology Dr. Mildred Alvarez Department of Psychology Dr. Arlene Asuncion Department of Psychology ABSTRACT PERSPIRATION AND MOTIVATION: AN EXAMINATION OF BODY IMAGE AND EXERCISE by Melissa A. Luu The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between body image and exercise.
The study examined reasons for exercise and level of exercise as potential moderators of the relationship between body appreciation and exercise. Three hypotheses were tested: there will be sex differences in level of body appreciation, there will be a positive relationship between body appreciation and level of exercise, and the relationship will be moderated by reason for exercise – either health or appearance reason and exercise level. Two-hundred-eighty-nine participants selected from an introductory psychology course pool responded to four questionnaires: the Body Appreciation Scale (BAS), the Reasons for Exercise Inventory (REI), the Exercise Motivations Inventory-2 (EMI-2), and an inquiry about physical activities. The first two hypotheses were supported: males had higher levels of body appreciation than females, and the more males and females exercised, the higher the level of body appreciation.
There was less support for the last hypothesis. Implications of the study are that males tended to feel better about themselves than females and that there was a definite relationship between exercise and positive body image. Exercising for health and appearance reasons and level of physical activity can affect how one feels about one’s body. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This thesis would not have been possible without the help of my wonderfully talented thesis committee.
I would like to start off by thanking my advisor, Dr. I am extremely thankful for you taking on this thesis, although it is not your area of expertise. I really appreciated your time and patience in helping me understand how to conduct some of the statistical tests for our hypotheses. Thank you for also helping me develop my writing skills so that I may be a competent writer.
I would also like to thank Dr. Mildred Alvarez, for always making time for me to stop by to discuss my thesis progress. Thank you also, for giving me valuable feedback and insight about how my topic relates to the developmental process. Finally, thank you Dr.
Arlene Asuncion, for taking on my thesis at almost the last minute. You are a lifesaver. I would also like to thank Dr. Howard Tokunaga and Dr.
Sean Laraway for their guidance and expertise on all things related to statistics. I also wanted to thank my classmate, Lauren, for helping me work out bugs in the online survey system and any technical issues I had. Finally, I would like to thank my mom for always supporting me in any way that she can. Although she had no idea what I was doing, she never stopped supporting me and rooting for me until I finished.
Thank you for never giving up on me mom. v TABLE OF CONTENTS SECTION PAGE INTRODUCTION .11 Body Appreciation Scale (BAS). 11 Reasons for Exercise Inventory (REI). 12 The Exercise Motivations Inventory-2 (EMI-2) .12 Physical Activity Measure .21 Step 2: Exercise Variables.
22 Step 3 and Step 4: Two-Way and Three-Way Interactions. 23 Post-Hoc Analysis. 27 Positive Body Image. 28 Male Body Image.
29 Limitations and Future Directions. Body Appreciation Scale. Reasons for Exercise Inventory. The Exercise Motivations Inventory-2.
Physical Activity Measure. Total Health Exercise Reason Scale. Total Appearance Exercise Reason Scale. 45 vii LIST OF TABLES TABLE PAGE 1.
Frequency Chart of Demographic Characteristics. Descriptive Statistics of the Questionnaire Items, Overall Health and Appearance Scores, and Participant Demographic Characteristics. Correlation Matrix for all Variables. Correlations between Body Appreciation Score and Predictor Variables, R², and change in R² ( ∆ R2), standardized Regression Coefficients ( β ), and Squared Semi-partial Correlations.
21 viii 1 Introduction Western societies have placed great emphasis on physical beauty, and such emphasis may be detrimental to an individual’s body image. Body image is defined as a person’s views, feelings, thoughts, sense of control, and perceptions of his or her own body (Daniels & Leaper, 2011). Positive body image is defined as a combination of appreciation, acceptance, and comfort in one’s body. Negative body image entails the opposite effects, such as having a low sense of appreciation, low acceptance, and high discomfort in one’s body.
Mass media such as television and magazines have become widely used tools to spread awareness of physical beauty. Thin, voluptuous females and lean, muscular males are depicted as having the “ideal” bodies (Agliata & Tantleff-Dunn, 2004; Morry & Staska, 2001). Children as young as 7-10 years old are exposed to such ideals, which may lead to a preoccupation with body image and weight. Such thoughts can result in potential eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia and overall body image dissatisfaction (Mash & Wolfe, 2010).
Preoccupation at a young age may lead to adverse consequences in the future. It becomes pertinent to instill a positive body image at a young age by teaching the importance of body appreciation and examining different methods to maintain a positive body image. Perhaps the most troubling time for an individual and his or her sense of body image is adolescence. During this time, males and females start developing sexual characteristics such as breasts and muscles (Smith, Cowie, & Blades, 2011).
Weight gain due to puberty may be one factor that leads to body image dissatisfaction, particularly in 2 females. Early-maturing females may appear heavier relative to their late-maturing peers, which may lead to preoccupation of thoughts of losing weight and being thin. Late-maturing males may be preoccupied with wanting a more athletic, muscular body. Early-maturing males, however, begin to gain muscle mass, giving them higher social status among peers and a more positive feeling about their body (Daniels & Leaper, 2011).
These discrepancies that adolescents face relative to their peers may lead to a decrease in accepting their body and hence an increase in body image dissatisfaction. Westernized ideals stress the importance of losing weight and being thin for females and maintaining muscles for males (Mäkinen, Puukko-Viertomies, Lindberg, Siimes, & Aalberg, 2012). But those ideals may be difficult to achieve. The ideals presented on television and in magazines do not encompass the variety of body shapes of all individuals (Fahey, Insel, & Roth, 2009).
It becomes important to help individuals, specifically adolescents, develop cognitive strategies that enable them to critically view portrayals of physical beauty. Adolescents should not internalize the message that being thin or muscular is ideal, but that they should love and view their body in a more positive light. Frisén and Holmqvist (2010) examined reasons adolescents had to maintain a positive body image. Participants were interviewed about appearance satisfaction, exercise views, and influence from family and friends.
Results indicated that appearance satisfaction was associated with viewing the body in terms of functionality (i., ability) instead of physical appearance. Adolescents generally enjoyed exercise and found it to promote health. Although family members and friends made negative comments, such as 3 being too thin or too short, the adolescents in their study were not bothered by the comments and did not take them too seriously. Not internalizing such comments indicated that there was minimal social influence impacting the adolescents’ positive body images.
Viewing a body in terms of ability instead of appearance can improve body image perception (Frisén & Holmqvist, 2010). Holmqvist and Frisén (2012) again examined reasons for maintenance of a positive body image in adolescents. Participants were interviewed, and different reasons appeared for maintenance of a positive body image. These adolescents were critical of the bodies shown in media, realizing the images in magazines were airbrushed or computerized to create an image of perfection.
The adolescents also realized that not everyone can look like perfected images, which also helped them maintain their positive perception. Another factor helping maintain a positive body image was that adolescents focused on what they believed were attractive qualities instead of focusing on what media portrays as attractive. Having those cognitive tools helped these adolescents maintain a positive view of their body image. Wood-Barcalow, Tylka, and Augustus-Horvath (2010) examined positive body image characteristics in young-adult women and found that most women indicated that negative body image feelings were established during adolescence.
Participants were interviewed about their views on body image and the researchers found various characteristics that improved body image. For example, methods such as becoming more aware of media images, transitioning negative thought processes to positive thoughts of one’s body, and receiving unconditional acceptance from others helped the women 4 reinforce more positive feelings about their bodies. By ignoring negative messages and attending to positive characteristics, these women were able to maintain a positive body image (Wood-Baracalow et al. Smith-Jackson, Reel, and Thackery (2011) examined strategies to cope with negative body image in college women.
Participants were interviewed and seven different coping strategies appeared: exercising and eating healthier, changing appearance, socializing, religion, reclusion, getting out, and self-acceptance. Engaging in activities such as shopping, talking with friends, turning to religion, and being alone proved to be helpful for the women in their study. Another factor that emerged in their study was self-acceptance, which is the extent an individual feels comfortable in his or her own body. Self-acceptance may be a cognitively arduous maintenance strategy, but loving one’s body and feeling comfortable by working hard is better than potentially developing an eating or body image disorder.
These coping strategies, then, may be used as a foundation to build a better understanding of how to maintain a positive body image. An easier method to maintain a positive body image may be exercise. Maintaining positive thoughts about body image is cognitively laborious, and exercise may be an easier way to deal with body image concerns. There are different types of exercise, including strength training, flexibility, and cardiorespiratory.
Strength training trains the muscles and involves exercises such as weight training and anything using all major muscle groups. Flexibility exercises focus on stretching the muscles and joints, and includes exercises such as yoga and Pilates-type. Cardiorespiratory exercises increase heart rate and endurance, and include jogging, swimming, and other sports 5 (Fahey et al. Exercise can be done at different levels, ranging from light to vigorous.
Light activity includes daily tasks such as walking to class or washing dishes. Moderate activity involves increasing heart rate but maintaining comfort such as walking briskly and dancing. Vigorous activity significantly increases heart rate and includes activities such as running and walking briskly uphill (Fahey et al. Some physical benefits of exercise include: increased oxygen intake in older populations (Colcombe et al., 2006), increased cardiorespiratory functioning, decreased risk for chronic diseases, improved muscles and bones, and improved injury prevention (Fahey et al.
Exercise not only provides physical benefits for the body, but also improves overall well-being, implying that exercise also has psychological benefits.