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The construct of body image has been considered to be important for young individuals. The present research was conducted to explore the construct of body dissatisfaction in university students of Lahore. In the first phase of the study, the construct of body dissatisfaction was explored through semi-structured interview questionnaires from 20 university students which yielded a list of 31 items. These items were then given to experts for content validity. Afterwards, the resultant scale of 26 items was administered on 529 university students including men and women. The factor analyses revealed that the construct of body dissatisfaction was construed quite differently by men and women, hence, separate factor analyses for both genders were carried out. It showed 4 factors (i.e., body shape, muscularity, facial features, and hair) for boys and 3 factors (i.e., bodyweight, skeletal structure, and facial features) for women. Concurrent Validity was established with the help of two measures of the Body Areas Satisfaction Scale of the Multidimensional Body Self-Relation Questionnaire-Appearance Scale (Brown, Cash, & Mikula, 1990) and the Figure Rating Scale (Stunkard, Sorenson, & Schulsinger, 1983). Test-retest reliability and Cronbach alpha values indicated that scale was highly reliable measure to study body dissatisfaction. The factor structure of the Body Dissatisfaction Scale was explained in the light of cultural variations.
Keywords. Body image, late adolescence, body shape, culture
The physical body is the first and foremost basis for an individual's sense of self. Every individual sets some standards for his/her ideal physical appearance. Body image is the way a person perceives, thinks, and feels about his or her body (Grogan, 2008). If a person experiences dissatisfaction with this image, it is labeled as body dissatisfaction. Body dissatisfaction is said to result from a discrepancy between one's perceived body and one's ideal body (Niide et al., 2011; Showers & Larson, 1999). According to Littleton and Ollendick (2003), body dissatisfaction increases with age and peaks during adolescence particularly in women. Large number of researches (Knauss, Paxton, & Alsaker, 2007; McCabe & Ricciardelli, 2009) provide evidence that the majority of girls and women are dissatisfied with their bodies, particularly with weight, size, and shape. Girls have been found to be experiencing body dissatisfaction even at the age of seven. From a very young age,...