Table 4.
Prevalence of high body surveillance, internalization, and perceived appearance pressures among men and women.
| White | Hispanic | Black | Asian | Under-weight | Normal | Over-weight | Obese I | Obese II | Obese III | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M (W) | M (W) | M (W) | M (W) | M (W) | M (W) | M (W) | M (W) | M (W) | M (W) | |
| % (%) | % (%) | % (%) | % (%) | % (%) | % (%) | % (%) | % (%) | % (%) | % (%) | |
| High Body Surveillance | 26 (42) | 25 (45) | 21 (35) | 23 (38) | 14 (35) | 24 (38) | 24 (41) | 27 (47) | 34 (47) | 30 (47) |
| High Thin-Ideal Internalization | 28 (43) | 32 (45) | 20 (28) | 31 (44) | 22 (35) | 23 (41) | 29 (40) | 32 (46) | 40 (50) | 35 (44) |
| High Muscle/Athletic Internalization | 44 (22) | 53 (29) | 63 (18) | 58 (26) | 36 (29) | 49 (27) | 52 (20) | 43 (18) | 37 (18) | 33 (12) |
| High Peer Pressure | 11 (12) | 12 (12) | 12 (11) | 14 (12) | 08 (09) | 07 (07) | 11 (11) | 15 (16) | 22 (22) | 23 (27) |
| High Media Pressure | 36 (61) | 34 (61) | 24 (45) | 27 (53) | 08 (36) | 26 (50) | 35 (63) | 46 (70) | 53 (75) | 53 (72) |
| High Family Pressure | 11 (19) | 15 (25) | 11 (18) | 15 (32) | 06 (10) | 06 (10) | 10 (21) | 18 (30) | 26 (40) | 29 (43) |
| Agree: I want body to look very lean | 59 (67) | 62 (65) | 51 (56) | 60 (67) | 39 (49) | 55 (67) | 61 (64) | 61 (67) | 67 (65) | 58 (61) |
| Agree: I want my body to look very thin | 25 (41) | 26 (37) | 15 (24) | 25 (39) | 30 (37) | 23 (41) | 23 (36) | 26 (40) | 28 (41) | 29 (41) |
| Agree: Important for me look athletic | 20 (37) | 16 (32) | 15 (44) | 12 (35) | 28 (40) | 16 (30) | 16 (39) | 22 (42) | 23 (43) | 33 (50) |
| Agree: Spend lot time doing things athletic | 35 (20) | 40 (28) | 48 (16) | 47 (23) | 30 (26) | 39 (26) | 41 (19) | 31 (14) | 26 (14) | 21 (10) |
| Agree: Spend lot time doing things muscular | 33 (15) | 37 (20) | 50 (13) | 43 (17) | 28 (18) | 36 (19) | 39 (13) | 31 (10) | 24 (10) | 24 (08) |
| Disagree: Rarely compare looks to others (L) | 47 (63) | 43 (59) | 39 (51) | 44 (58) | 47 (57) | 44 (59) | 45 (61) | 48 (65) | 54 (68) | 54 (69) |
| Disagree: More concern what body can do (L) | 25 (37) | 21 (33) | 22 (35) | 20 (32) | 22 (35) | 22 (33) | 23 (36) | 26 (41) | 32 (41) | 33 (44) |
| Disagree: Rarely worry how look to others (L) | 44 (59) | 40 (54) | 35 (52) | 40 (55) | 42 (59) | 42 (54) | 40 (57) | 45 (62) | 52 (66) | 55 (65) |
| Hetero. | Gay/Les. | Bisexual | Other | 18–24 | 25–29 | 30–39 | 40–49 | 50–65 | ||
| % (%) | % (%) | % (%) | % (%) | % (%) | % (%) | % (%) | % (%) | % (%) | ||
| High Body surveillance | 24 (41) | 49 (27) | 31 (49) | − (34) | 31 (48) | 27 (45) | 26 (44) | 22 (38) | 12 (25) | |
| High Thin-Ideal Internalization | 28 (43) | 41 (37) | 34 (43) | − (30) | 31 (52) | 32 (44) | 26 (42) | 27 (36) | 20 (33) | |
| High Muscle/Athletic Internalization | 48 (22) | 40 (30) | 38 (24) | − (20) | 59 (30) | 54 (25) | 45 (23) | 41 (17) | 25 (11) | |
| High Peer Pressure | 11 (12) | 19 (11) | 13 (16) | − (12) | 16 (19) | 16 (14) | 09 (11) | 07 (08) | 03 (07) | |
| High Media Pressure | 34 (59) | 58 (52) | 43 (69) | − (60) | 34 (63) | 37 (62) | 33 (61) | 38 (54) | 32 (54) | |
| High Family Pressure | 11 (20) | 15 (20) | 13 (27) | − (25) | 14 (26) | 14 (23) | 11 (20) | 08 (17) | 05 (14) | |
| Agree: I want body to look very lean | 59 (66) | 68 (61) | 60 (61) | − (53) | 61 (72) | 62 (68) | 59 (67) | 58 (59) | 48 (56) | |
| Agree: I want my body to look very thin | 23 (40) | 37 (35) | 33 (37) | − (31) | 25 (48) | 27 (39) | 22 (39) | 22 (34) | 24 (33) | |
| Agree: Important for me look athletic | 17 (37) | 27 (30) | 30 (41) | − (42) | 15 (32) | 17 (34) | 18 (34) | 19 (41) | 31 (51) | |
| Agree: Spend lot time doing things athletic | 38 (20) | 29 (21) | 30 (22) | − (21) | 45 (26) | 41 (24) | 36 (22) | 29 (15) | 21 (11) | |
| Agree: Spend lot time doing things muscular | 36 (15) | 26 (17) | 26 (17) | − (13) | 45 (21) | 41 (17) | 33 (16) | 27 (09) | 16 (08) | |
| Disagree: Rarely compare looks to others (L) | 45 (62) | 64 (42) | 44 (65) | − (57) | 50 (65) | 48 (65) | 47 (65) | 46 (58) | 29 (48) | |
| Disagree: More concern what body can do (L) | 23 (36) | 40 (26) | 24 (41) | − (21) | 25 (38) | 25 (39) | 26 (40) | 24 (34) | 13 (24) | |
| Disagree: Rarely worry how look to others (L) | 42 (58) | 58 (47) | 48 (61) | − (52) | 38 (61) | 45 (61) | 43 (59) | 40 (56) | 35 (48) |
Note. In each cell, the first number represents the percentage of men who fell into the categories generally associated with poor body image (e.g., “high” body surveillance, 4.51–7.00; “high” family pressures 3.51–5.00; or disagreeing that they rarely compare their looks to others, (“low”) 1.00–3.49). The second number (in parentheses) represents the percentage of women. For example, 26% of White men (and 42% of White women) reported high body surveillance. Only data for cells with at least 40 participants are shown.