TITLE:
Body Image Perception and Internalization Problems Indicators in Mexican Adolescents
AUTHORS:
Cecilia Colunga-Rodríguez, Mercedes Gabriela Orozco-Solis, María Elena Flores-Villavicencio, José María de-la-Roca-Chiapas, Ricardo Gómez-Martínez, Alfonso Mercado, Julio César Vázquez-Colunga, Juan Carlos Barrera-de-León, Claudia Liliana Vázquez-Juárez, Mario Ángel-González
KEYWORDS:
Body Image, Internalizing Problems, Gender
JOURNAL NAME:
Psychology,
Vol.7 No.13,
November
18,
2016
ABSTRACT: The aim
of the study was to determine the existing differences by gender in the
indicators of internalizing problems regarding the body image perception of
Mexican adolescents. A descriptive and transversal study was developed. The
participants were students from four public middle schools in Guadalajara
Mexico. The instrument used was an online survey constituted by a
sociodemographic section, an internalizing problems indicators scale (α = .85) and a body image perception
scale (α = .70). Parental consent was
obtained using a waiver of active consent. The survey was applied online,
during school hours at the computer labs. Descriptive statistics were
calculated for the sociodemographic data and the body perception scale. Z-scores
were determined for the internalizing problems scale, being categorized into a
three level rank. Statistical differences were estimated by gender using
one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). The sample included 2080 adolescents with
a mean age of 13.6 years (SD 1), of which 51% (1059) were female and 49% (1021)
male. 18.1% of the participants that describe themselves as about the right
weight, followed by 13.9% that do it as slightly overweight, indicating that they
are trying to lose weight. Regarding the differences by gender, 16% of the
males and 17.9% of the females have high indicators of internalizing problems.
Taking into consideration the body image, the males that describe themselves as
very overweight and the females that do it as very underweight are the groups
with higher indicators of internalizing problems. In summary, there are
important differences between males and females in the internalizing problems
indicators regarding the body image.