Introduction: This research aimed to examine predictors of discrepancies between actual and ideal body images, specifically body fat and muscularity discrepancies, in kinesiology students. Results: The median and Mann—Whitney U tests were used to determine sex differences, and regression analyses were used to determine the contribution of sex, perfectionism, self-esteem, and eating attitudes in explaining the variances in body fat and muscularity dissatisfaction.
The results showed no sex differences in body fat discrepancy, while men showed more discrepancy between actual and ideal muscularity than women. In regression analyses, sex was the only significant predictor of muscularity discrepancy, while disordered eating attitudes were a positive, and positive perfectionism was a negative predictor of body fat discrepancy. Discussion: This study showed that while muscularity dissatisfaction is linked to the male sex, body fat dissatisfaction is not related to sex but to psychological variables of disordered eating attitudes and positive perfectionism in a population of youths that may be above average when it comes to physical activity.
Athletes and young people involved in sports, such as kinesiology students, are at special risk for body image disturbance, due to task and social pressures to achieve an ideal physique Hausenblas and Downs, Kirkpatrick and Lee suggest that participating in social networking sites, especially image-based ones, could have negative effects on body image satisfaction in youth, with Carmona et al.
These evaluations partly derive from discrepancies of self-perceived current appearance from internalized body ideals see Muth and Cash, The affective aspect refers to emotions related to appearance, while the investment aspect refers to the importance a person places on appearance Cash, Empirical results suggest that women express higher body image dissatisfaction than men Muth and Cash, ; Demarest and Allen, ; Leng et al.
However, it is incorrect to assume that body dissatisfaction exists only in women. Research indicates that body image dissatisfaction in the male population has been on the rise in recent years see Talbot et al. Although there are some similarities, body image dissatisfaction manifests differently in men and women. This difference can be related to the shape and composition of what men and women consider the ideal body.
