The Effect of Gender Typing and Body Image on Life Satisfaction

This study examined the relationship between gender typing, body dissatisfaction, and psychological well being. It was hypothesized that gender typed individuals would use appearance and body image as defining features of self worth and therefore would be more vulnerable to feel dissatisfied with their bodies and subsequently experience more psychological distress. Three hundred participants from North America (age 18 to 83) completed online questionnaires that assessed gender typing, body image satisfaction, appearance schematicity, and satisfaction with life. No significant sex differences in body image satisfaction were reported between men and women. Body image satisfaction positively correlated with overall life satisfaction, however contrary to predictions, this correlation was stronger for men. Body image satisfaction was significantly correlated with actual masculinity scores in both men and women, but masculinity did not mediate the association between body image and overall life satisfaction. There was a sex difference in appearance schematicity, indicating that appearance is more important for women, and this sex difference was mediated by femininity. The relative role of gender, as opposed to possessing attributes that have historically been considered masculine and feminine, is discussed. GENDER TYPING AND BODY IMAGE 3 Acknowledgments I would like to thank my family for their continuous support during the past four years of my undergraduate career. Thank you to my mom for always believing in me and showing me unconditional love and guidance. Thank you to my dad for his endless dedication in teaching me not only how to be a better student but person overall. Thank you to my sister for always putting a smile on my face and for letting me present every single school project to her beforehand with minimal complaints. To my entire family, thank you for giving me the opportunity to attend university and for being supportive of all my goals for the future. You give me the courage to reach for my dreams. And finally, I would like to thank Dr. Chris Roney for working with me all year in writing this thesis. Thank you for your continuous feedback, knowledge, and encouragement throughout this process. I have learned a lot from you and could not have asked for a better advisor. GENDER TYPING AND BODY IMAGE 4 The Effect of Gender Typing and Body Image on Life Satisfaction Gender schemas are cognitive ways of categorizing information according to either feminine or masculine typicality as defined by their culture. For example, an individual who thinks of the adjective 'muscular' may mentally classify this term as masculine according to his/her gender schema and similarly classify the adjective 'skinny' as feminine. Individuals who use gender as a way of classifying information, and who act according to this classification, are said to be gender typed (Bem, 1984) These gender typed individuals may feel pressure to live up to cultural gender expectations. This study will examine the relationship between body dissatisfaction and psychological well being, as well as how this relationship is influenced by gender typing. Specifically, this study examines sex differences in general and the role of psychological masculinity and femininity as predictors of body image and of overall life satisfaction. Body dissatisfaction may be a large contributor to poor psychological well being for both men and women, and different cultural expectations for men and women may influence this dissatisfaction. As will be discussed below, a lot of attention and research has focused on body dissatisfaction in women, but dissatisfaction may also be on the rise for men due to the unrealistic portrayal of men's bodies in the media. Previous research has demonstrated connections between gender and body image, and the aim of the current study is to extend this research by examining different facets of gender typing and internalizations of societal norms for men and women. Gender Schemas and Gender Typing In 1984, Sandra Bem described gender typed individuals as those who use their sex to define what personal characteristics, skills, and behaviours are appropriate for them to possess GENDER TYPING AND BODY IMAGE 5 (Bem, 1984) Bem stated that children learn to categorize by gender at a very young age due to cultural expectations for men and women, but also because of parents, peers, and other people they interact with who emphasize to the child what is appropriate for a man or a woman (Bem, 1984) The child may learn to develop gender schematic processing, a cognitive way of organizing information into specific gender categories, and then to adhere to those categories. Some children will learn to internalize these gender schemas and start to demonstrate gender appropriate thinking and behaviour, but some are raised in a way that does not emphasize gender as an important category for guiding their behaviour. According to Bem, these early childhood experiences are an important part of how gender differences emerge. Bem's Gender Schema Theory postulates that gender typed individuals, those who are predominantly masculine or feminine, are more likely to wish to behave in a way that is consistent with their gender and are more likely to feel discomfort or distress if they believe their traits and behaviours do not coincide with their gender. Individuals who are androgynous do not process information about the social world according to gender, and therefore they do not experience this internal pressure to conform to gender based expectations (Bem, 1984) There have been multiple studies conducted that demonstrate the differences in cognitive processing of gender typed individuals. For example, Mills (1983) found that gender typed individuals responded much faster to gender appropriate attributes that they knew they possessed but took longer to admit they possessed attributes that were not congruent with their gender, suggesting that there was some discomfort with admitting to possess sex inappropriate traits. Furthermore, Bem (1981) found that participants who were gender typed were more likely to group words according to gender categories above other categories and were more likely to GENDER TYPING AND BODY IMAGE 6 remember only words typical of their appropriate gender category. Deaux and Major (1977) also found that gender typed participants were more likely to categorize people into gender appropriate categories after watching video clips of people demonstrating different behaviours. This early research is among the first to support Gender Schema Theory and gender schematic cognitive processes. Recently a revised approach to measuring gender typing was developed that focuses more on motivation to conform to gender related attributes based on Higgins`(1987) self discrepancy theory (Howell Spooner, 2013; Swift, 2013) Whereas Bem measured gender typing by asking people what attributes people feel they possess (some being stereotypically masculine and some stereotypically feminine) in this new approach participants are also asked about the extent to which they ideally want to possess the attributes and to which they feel that others expect them to possess the attributes. These additions are intended to reflect the extent to which individuals have internalized gender based expectations into their own motivational system (i.e. as ideals to strive toward) and perceived social pressures to conform. When studying sex differences, using this measure allows for separate investigation of implications of possessing masculine or feminine attributes, as well as the implications of ideally wanting to possess these attributes and of feeling that one ought to possess these attributes, therefore yielding three scores instead of one. Gender and Body Image Gender differences in body dissatisfaction have been studied with somewhat mixed findings. Some research emphasizes body dissatisfaction as being potentially greater among women. Clark and Tiggemann (2008) looked at what factors predict body image in young girls GENDER TYPING AND BODY IMAGE 7 by assessing television and magazine exposure, internalizations of appearance ideals, body image, autonomy, and how often girls spoke to their friends about appearance. The researchers concluded that girls who were dissatisfied with their body image had a higher desire for a thin body and more internalized appearance ideals. The more exposure girls had to media, the lower their self esteem score. It was also found that girls who defined their self worth by their appearance were more likely to feel negative about their bodies. Additionally, Ambwani and Strauss (2007) found that women, more than men, greatly emphasized their appearance due to internalizations of how others react to their appearance. Women believed that men were attracted to slender and sexy women, while men believed that women were interested in physical attractiveness and dominance. Moreover, a study by Cash, Jakatdar, and Fleming Williams (2004) examined sex differences in how individuals feel their body image impacts their quality of life and found that women reported more negative impact than did men. The researchers also found that the impact of body image on quality of life increased for women as their body mass score increased. There was no significant relationship between body image quality of life and body mass for men. Furthermore, when researching opinions on specific body parts, Hoyt and Kogan (2002) found that women were more dissatisfied with their abdomen, waist, thighs, and buttocks, while men were more dissatisfied with their upper body. Some research, however, reveals similarities in men and women with respect to the importance of appearance. For example, Cho and Lee (2013) had participants view different body types while their gaze and eye movements were tracked by a recording device. Participants were then asked to rate the different body