Research Center for Social Determinants of Health, Research Institute for Endocrine Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran.
BMC Public Health. 2021 Jan 7;21(1):78. doi: 10.1186/s12889-020-10096-7.
Although different aspects of body image have been extensively studied in Western societies, there is little evidence regarding the main physical components that contribute to perceptions of body image from the perspective of adolescents, especially in Eastern-Mediterranean regions. This study aims to investigate main physical components of body image from the perspectives of Iranian boys and girls.
This qualitative study has been conducted using a grounded theory approach. The focus of the current study was on identifying the main physical characteristics of body image as perceived by participants. A total of 13 semi-structured focus group discussions were conducted with 84 adolescents (42 girls and 42 boys), aged 15-18 years. All focus group discussions were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim. Data collection continued until saturation was reached.
The mean age and BMI of participants were 16.2±0.9 years and 24.3±8.0 kg/m respectively. Regarding main physical components of body image, three main themes emerged from the data: 1) perceived face/hair, which included three subthemes-facial features, facial shape/form and hair, 2) perceived body, which included three subthemes-body size, body shape and bone structure and 3) perceived physical functioning which included three subthemes-physical ability, physical health and voice tone. Among mentioned themes, perceived body was the concept which was most frequently addressed by both adolescent boys and girls. Additionally, in terms of the other remaining two themes, when adolescents were talking about their bodies, girls more frequently mentioned their faces and its features, while boys tended to talk more about their physical functioning.
This qualitative study provide further insight into the physical components of body image as perceived by Iranian boys and girls. Current findings indicated that besides those features that focused on body appearance and its aesthetic aspects, physical functioning was another main component of perceived body image by participants. These findings can contribute to the design and implementation of effective interventions aiming at improving body image and its related disorders in Iranian adolescents.
尽管在西方社会中已经广泛研究了身体意象的不同方面，但几乎没有证据表明从青少年的角度来看，哪些是主要的身体成分有助于他们对身体意象的感知，特别是在东地中海地区。本研究旨在调查伊朗男孩和女孩对身体意象的主要身体成分的看法。
本研究采用扎根理论方法进行定性研究。本研究的重点是确定参与者感知到的身体意象的主要身体特征。共对 84 名 15-18 岁的青少年（女孩 42 名，男孩 42 名）进行了 13 次半结构化焦点小组讨论。所有焦点小组讨论都进行了录音，并逐字记录。数据收集持续到达到饱和为止。
参与者的平均年龄和 BMI 分别为 16.2±0.9 岁和 24.3±8.0kg/m2。关于身体意象的主要身体成分，从数据中出现了三个主要主题：1）感知的面部/头发，包括三个子主题-面部特征、面部形状/形式和头发，2）感知的身体，包括三个子主题-体型、体型和骨骼结构，3）感知的身体功能，包括三个子主题-身体能力、身体健康和声音音调。在所提到的主题中，感知身体是男孩和女孩都经常提到的概念。此外，就其余两个主题而言，当青少年谈论自己的身体时，女孩更频繁地提到她们的脸及其特征，而男孩则更倾向于谈论他们的身体功能。
本定性研究进一步深入了解了伊朗男孩和女孩对身体意象的身体成分的看法。目前的研究结果表明，除了那些关注身体外观及其美学方面的特征外，身体功能是参与者感知身体意象的另一个主要组成部分。这些发现可以为设计和实施旨在改善伊朗青少年身体意象及其相关障碍的有效干预措施做出贡献。
