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ABSTRACT
The two studies reported in this paper were designed to evaluate the efficacy of a multidimensional model of body image that incorporated the dimensions of perception, affect, cognition, and behavior. Study 1 selected items from established measures that were judged to reflect these four dimensions. This four-factor model was then tested in Study 2. The participants for Study 2 were 175 females. The results did not support the hypothesized four-factor model. An exploratory factor analysis revealed a model that consisted of three factors: Cognitions and Affect Regarding Body, Body Importance and Dieting Behavior, and Perceptual Body Image. Below-average-weight respondents rated the Cognitions and Affect Regarding Body factor as more important than did above-average-weight respondents. Below-average-weight respondents overestimated their body size, whereas average-weight and above-averageweight respondents made underestimates, with above-average-weight respondents underestimating their body size to a greater extent than average-weight respondents. The results highlight the multidimensionality of the body image construct and the difficulty in attempting to simplify this construct. Implications of these findings for better understanding problems among people with disturbed body image are discussed.
Although early researchers conceptualized body image as being unidimensional, it is now considered to be, and is measured as, a multidimensional construct. However, the nature of these dimensions is unclear. Examples of dimensions are: perception, attitude, cognition, behavior, affect, fear of fatness, body distortion, body dissatisfaction, cognitive-behavioral investment, evaluation, preference for thinness, and restrictive eating (Brown, Cash, & Mikulka, 1990; Cash, 1994; Cash & Green, 1986; Cash & Henry, 1995; Cleaves, Williamson, Eberenz, Sebastian, & Barker, 1995; Slade, 1994; Williamson, 1990; Williamson, Cubic, & Cleaves, 1993; Williamson, Cleaves, Watkins, & Schlundt, 1993). The way in which body image is conceptualized is not just of theoretical interest, but has implications for the way in which disturbances in body image are treated.
The nature of the dimensions included in models of body image is diverse. Slade (1994) viewed body image as "a loose mental representation of body shape, size, and form which is influenced by a variety of historical, cultural and social, individual, and biological factors, which operate over varying time spans" (p. 302). Cash and his colleagues (Brown et al., 1990; Cash, 1994; Cash & Henry, 1995) viewed body image as being composed of perceptual and attitudinal...