Correlates of Bio-Psychosocial Factors on Perceived Body Image amongst Adolescents: Implications for Preventive Health Education

Abstract

The study examined the interrelationships between a variety of measures designed to index the associations among adolescents’ bio-psychosocial factors and body image. Participants were 300 students whose age range between 11 and 26 years (mean =16.80, SD= 4.17) who completed questionnaires. The questionnaire contained measures of demographics, self-esteem, self-efficacy, food habit index, exercise, weight. Data was analyzed using correlation analysis. The results indicated that there was a positive relationship between self-esteem and perceived body image (r = .45, p < .01) and between self-efficacy and body image (r = .22, p < .01. While a negative relationship was found between food habit index and perceived body image (r = -.22, p <.01), food habit and perceived body image (r = -.24, p <. 01) and body weight and perceived body image (r = -.17, p < .01). There was no relationship between exercise and perceived body image (r = .07, p > .05). The implication of these findings for preventive health education were discussed and stakeholders were advised to inculcate the essence of physical activities and balance food eating habit in their programme in order to improve the level of body image satisfaction among adolescents.

Keywords: Body image; food habit; self-esteem.