ABSTRACT

The Appearance Oriented and Body Shape Management of Middle and High School Students in Daejeon Area.

Ga-Young Lee

Major in Home Economics Education, Graduate School of Education, Chungnam National University
Daejeon, Korea

(Supervised by Professor Joo-Yung Park. Joon-Ho Lee)


The purpose of this study was to investigate the appearance oriented and body shape management in middle and high school students in Daejeon area. Especially the differences of level on appearance oriented and body shape management by the characteristics of students were examined. A survey was performed from December 16th ~ 28th 2015 and 355 respondents were collected for analysis. The result of the analysis was as follows.
First, 51.8% of the respondents were male students while 48.2% of them were female ones. 45.9% of the respondents were middle school students whereas 54.1% of them were high school ones. Most respondents had less than KRW 50,000 available for their pocket money in a month (60.4%), and had no romantic partner (85.6%). The body mass index (BMI) average of the middle school students was 19.8kg/m2, whereas that of the high school ones was 21.4kg/m2. There was no significant difference in the BMI average between male and female middle school students. However, male high school students marked higher BMI average than female ones (p<0.001). For the obesity rates of the respondents, 83.1% of them were within the standard weight group, 11.0% the overweight group , and 4.2% the obese one.
Second, for appearance oriented, the average rating of the lookism orientation was 2.82 in a 5-point scale, which was close to ‘Normal.’ The answer ‘Good looking or attractive people sometimes receive more preferential treatment’ obtained the highest rating of 3.41/5 points. Female students than male ones, and high school students than middle school ones indicated significantly higher ratings (p<0.01). For the interests in beauty care, the average rating was 2.93/5 points, which was close to ‘Normal.’ The answer ‘It is important to take care of one’s appearance’ marked the highest rating of 3.65/5 points, and female students showed significantly higher ratings than male ones for interests in beauty care (p<0.001). For the body satisfaction, the average rating was 3.02/5 points, which was close to ‘Normal.’ Satisfaction for hair styles indicated the highest rating of 3.37/5 points. Male students than female ones, and middle school students than high school ones suggested significantly higher ratings (p<0.001, p<0.01) and students with higher academic rankings showed significantly higher ratings in the body satisfaction than the ones with lower academic rankings (p<0.05).
Third, for body shape management, the average rating for the perception of their current body shapes was 3.21 in a 5-point scale, and female students than male ones and students with romantic partner than the ones with no such friends perceived themselves more fat than actual conditions (p<0.01). Perception of the ideal body shape indicated the average rating of 2.61 in a 5-point scale and female students perceived thinner body shapes more ideal than male ones did (p<0.001). Where the obesity rates are within the standard weight, 40.0% of the respondents perceived their body shapes ‘standard ones’ while 31.5% of them responded that they are ‘slightly overweight’(p<0.01). The average rating of the body shape satisfaction suggested 2.87 in a 5-point scale and female students than male ones, and high school students than the middle school ones indicated significantly lower ratings (p<0.001, p<0.05). For interests on weight control, the average rating was 3.38/5 points, and female students were more interested in weight control than male ones (p<0.001). 38.1% of the respondents reported either ''health'' or ''appearance management'' respectively as reasons for weight control. ''Health management'' was the biggest reason among male students, while female students indicated ''appearance management'' for the reason (p<0.001). 78.3% of the respondents reported ‘exercise’ as the most effective method for weight control but female students indicated ‘diet control’ as an effective method for weight control than male ones(p<0.01). 56.9% of the respondents had tried weight control, and female students were more committed to it than male ones did (p<0.001). Both middle and high school students indicated ‘exercise’ as weight control method and most respondents reported ‘no symptoms’ after weight control. With respect to the frequency of taking exercise, 31.5% of the respondents suggested once or twice in a week, while male students showed significantly higher frequency than female ones did (p<0.001). In addition, middle school students than high school ones, and students with romantic partner than the ones with no such friends indicated higher frequency in exercise (p<0.001, p<0.05). 41.1% of the respondents reported 30 minutes to 1 hour for their average duration of exercise. Middle school students showed longer duration of exercise than high school ones did (p<0.05). Diet control indicated the average rating of 2.56/5 points which was close to ‘Normal.’ The answer ‘I have a meal with adequate amount’ showed the highest rating of 3.26/5 points, and female students reported significantly higher ratings than male ones did (p<0.001). For the frequency of taking snacks, the most respondents (40.6%) reported once in a day. On the frequency of eating fast food, the most respondents (56.3%) indicated once or twice in a month.
Fourth, about correlations among variables related to appearance oriented and body shape management, lookism orientation had a positive correlation with interests in beauty care (p<0.001), a negative one with body satisfaction and the frequency of exercise (p<0.001). Interests in beauty care had a negative correlation with body satisfaction, the frequency of exercise, the average duration of exercise and the frequency of taking snacks (p<0.01, p<0.01, p<0.05, p<0.05), and a positive one with diet control (p<0.01). Body satisfaction had a positive correlation with the frequency of exercise (p<0.001). The frequency of exercise had a positive one with the average duration of exercise (p<0.001). Diet control had a negative correlation with the frequency of taking fast food (p<0.05). The frequency of taking snacks had a positive one with the frequency of taking fast-food (p<0.001).
As the results, female and high school students tended to show high ratings in lookism orientation and interests in beauty care, whereas male and middle school students tended to show high ratings in body satisfaction. More than 40% of the respondents perceived them fatter than the standard weight and, in particular, female students and the ones with romantic partner perceived them fatter than their actual conditions. With respect to body shape satisfaction, female and high school students indicated lower satisfaction. For body shape management as practices by students, 75% of the female and 40% of the male students had tried weight control. For actual weight control, the frequency of exercise and the average duration of exercise had higher figures for male students and the ones with romantic partner than the others. However, female students were more dedicated to diet control than male ones.
Thus, female students indicated higher ratings in lookism orientation and interests in beauty care, while showing lower ratings in body shape and body satisfaction than male ones. For methods of diet control, female students were more likely to do diet control whereas male ones were more committed to exercise. In general, students with appearance oriented tended to control taking snacks and fast food or did diet control for body shape management. It is suggested that continued interest and guidance not only at home but also in schools is required for students to learn desirable attitudes and behaviors toward their appearances, and establish a correct image of the standard body shape and amicable school life.