Do male and female adolescents view their dissatisfaction with body parts in the same way?
OBJECTIVE
(1) To learn how female and male adolescents view their dissatisfaction toward body parts, and (2) learn how gender-related dissatisfaction toward body parts in Thai adolescents differs from those studied in Western countries.


METHODS
The researcher recruited 400 Thai male and female adolescents in Bangkok, attending high school to freshmen level, and ranging from 16-19 years, to participate in this study. Survey questionnaires containing questions related to the research objectives were distributed to each student. In addition, the researcher conducted in-depth follow-up interviews with 40 students to gain insightful data, which were beneficial for the content and percentage result analysis.


RESULTS
The findings show that Thai female and male adolescents viewed their dissatisfaction toward body parts differently. Whereas Thai female adolescents viewed their dissatisfied body parts individually and looked at their bodies in detail, Thai male adolescents tended to view their bodies as a whole and describe their dissatisfied body parts as problematic area(s). Moreover, some of the results in this study showed similarity with research conducted in the West. However, there were also differences that can be seen in detail showing a variation on the gender-related dissatisfied body parts names, percentage to each body part/area, and its beautified meanings. Like studies conducted in the West, female adolescents showed greater dissatisfaction toward their bodies and felt more pressure to fix problematic parts than did men.


CONCLUSIONS
How females and males view their bodies differently can be linked to greater incidence of dieting and eating disorders in females than in males.
Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand. chulanee00@hotmail.com
Chulanee
C
Thianthai
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001290:Attitude; D001828:Body Image; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D012737:Sex Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013785:Thailand