Preferences for female body size in Britain and the South Pacific.
To assess current attitudes to body weight and shape in the South Pacific, a region characterised by relatively high levels of obesity and traditionally positive views of large bodies, 38 high socio-economic status (SES) adolescent males and 38 low SES adolescent males in Independent Samoa were asked to rate a set of images of real women for physical attractiveness. Participants in both SES settings preferred women with a slender figure, as did a comparison group in Britain, suggesting that the traditional veneration of large bodies is no longer apparent in Samoa. However, the results also showed that low SES adolescents were more likely to view overweight figures as attractive, which suggests that the veneration of slim figures may be associated with increasing SES. Implications of this finding are discussed in conclusion.
Swami
Viren
V
Division of Public Health, University of Liverpool, Whelan Building, Quadrangle, Brownlow Hill, Liverpool L69 3GB, United Kingdom. virenswami@hotmail.com
Knight
Daniel
D
Tovée
Martin J
MJ
Davies
Patrick
P
Furnham
Adrian
A
D000293:Adolescent; D001504:Beauty; D001828:Body Image; D015992:Body Mass Index; D049628:Body Size; D001835:Body Weight; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000523:psychology; D018947:Samoa; D012945:Social Values; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D006113:United Kingdom; D049629:Waist-Hip Ratio