Psychologie a její kontexty, Vol.6, No.2

Tvorba škály fyzického vzhledu a „body image“ v kontextu českého prostředí

Creation of the physical appearance and the body image rating scale for the Czech context

Lenka Šrámková, Panajotis Cakirpaloglu

Jedním z pilířů, které výrazně utváří sebepojetí již od dětství, je fyzický vzhled. K měření spokojenosti s vlastním vzhledem se často využívají obrázkové škály postav. Hlavním cílem bylo vytvoření a ověření obrázkové škály postav nesoucí název Basic Olomouc Body Rating (BOBR). Škála byla vytvořena metodou analýzy dokumentů týkající se body-rating škál a metodou rozhovoru s potenciálními probandy. Výsledkem je vytvoření škály postav využitelné v dalším výzkumu i poradenské praxi. Text seznamuje stručně i s výsledky následné studie – internetový výzkum týkající se body image a vnímání sexuální atraktivity. n=5616 respondentů z České republiky odpovídalo na otázky, jak vypadají a jak by chtěli vypadat. Výsledky ukázaly signifikantní rozdíl jak u mužů, tak u žen (p < 0,0001; p < 0,0001). Výsledkem je vytvoření škály BOBR, která je validována a připravena k použití pro další výzkumy.

Klíčová slova:
sebepojetí, škála postav BOBR, fyzická atraktivita

Problem and methods: Physical appearance is one of the key components of selfperception from early childhood. An individual’s perceived physical attractiveness is largely conditioned by geographical, cultural and historical factors. Every culture develops its own criteria of attractiveness and any deviations to those are often a cause of ostracism, for example through exclusion or rejection. Still, there are certain universal principles of attractiveness (e.g. a higher waist-hip ratio, facial symmetry, sexually dimorphic features), which exist across cultures and time periods with little variation. To measure a person’s level of satisfaction with his/her physical appearance, psychologists regularly employ figure rating scales. The primary goal of our work was to develop and verify an updated visual body rating scale called the Basic Olomouc Body Rating (BOBR), making sure that it is widely usable, valid and reliable. The scale was created using the method of document analysis of academic papers according body-rating scales and a method of interview with potential probands. In the pilot data gathering phase, a group of respondents was presented with the 3 scales commonly used in the European context, i.e. FDS (Stunkard, Sorensen & Schulsinger, 1983), CDRS (Thompson & Gray, 1995) and BIAS-BD (Gardner, Jappe & Gardner, 2009). The purpose of this was to get feedback on these scales and find out if people are able to use these scales to rate themselves. New schematic figure rating scale for both men and women which would do away with the limitations of the scales used so far was developed. Results: The result is creation of a body-rating scale widely usable in further research and practical consulting. The paper briefly summarizes results of an additional study – the goal definition phase was followed by online research on the subject of body image and the self-perceived sexual attractiveness. Altogether, 5,616 respondents from the Czech Republic responded to questions such as ‘How do I look?’, ‘How do I want to look?’ and ‘Which figures of the same and opposite sex do I find the most sexually attractive?’ The participants indicated their responses on the BOBR 10-point figure rating scale. The results showed a significant divergence between the responses to the questions ‘I want to look’ and ‘I look’ among men, but also among women (p = 0.00; p = 0.00). Our research findings do not differ from the findings of other authors. Body dissatisfaction is a relatively common phenomenon, especially in women and in relation to weight. While women would like to be thinner, body dissatisfaction in men goes both ways, i.e. men, more frequently than women, would like to have a fuller figure. Compared with women, men are more frequently dissatisfied with their height. Conclusion: The main conclusion of the study is creation of the BOBR figure – rating scale, which was validated and is ready to be used in further researches. Further on, the scale has been verified in terms of validity and reliability; and a significant divergence was found between the responses to the questions ‘I want to look’ and ‘I look’ among both men and women. At this stage, the scale has been validated as an instrument and demonstrated to be useful for a variety of tasks: The fact that the scale has been received well also increases its potential and usability, for example in consulting psychology or as an ice-breaker during therapy sessions for individuals suffering from eating disorders.

Keywords:
self-perception, BOBR figure rating scale, physical attractiveness