Body image and obesity: Effects of gender and weight on perceptual measures of body image

The purpose of this study was to assess effects of gender and measures of Body Mass Index on estimates of normal body size (NBS), current body size (CBS), and discrepancies between attainable (ABS) and desirable (LTB) sizes. A total of 98 women and 74 men, shown 9 male and 9 female thin-to-heavy figure silhouette drawings, chose one drawing (or between two) indicating NBS-Male, NBS-Female, CBS, ABS, and LTB scores. Discrepancy scores were calculated as ABS-LTB. BMI within-group variances for CBS-Female scores were heterogeneous. Discrepancy scores were significantly different for groups of females. Subjects agreed on judgments of a hypothetical normal male and female figure size; men in BMI groups agreed upon a figure representing their size and felt their desired size was attainable. Normal-weight women could not consistently estimate their size. Obese and very obese females underestimated their size and felt that a desired size was unattainable. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd.