Sue Walsh PhD., ATC Concordia University Chicago

1. The Relationship Between Religious Orientation and Body Image Satisfaction and the Thin Body Ideal Among Female College Students Sue Walsh PhD., ATC Concordia University Chicago

2. Agenda • Development • Purpose • Problem • Sociocultural Theory • Research Questions • Procedures • Variables • Results • Conclusions • Limitations & Delimitations • Future Research

3. Development • Peter Walters PhD • Wheaton College • Harold Koenig M.D. • Duke University • Leading researcher on health and religion

4. Purpose To investigate the relationship between religious orientation and the sociocultural attitudes towards appearance and body image satisfaction among female college students.

5. Allport’s Religious Orientation • Gordon Allport's theoretical distinction between mature and immature religion (Allport and Ross ,1967) • Not all religious individuals are created equally: Individuals might engage in similar religious behaviors, such as church attendance, their underlying motives may differ, depending on the “maturity” of their respective “religious sentiments”(Hill & Hood, 1999, p 119) • Intrinsic-extrinsic scale to measure different religious orientations

6. Intrinsically religious • internalize and live their religion, and their religious motivation is found at the very core of his or her being. • Extrinsically religious • use religion as a means for a different end, such as: security, justification, sociability, distraction, or status; and that their motives for being religious rest on social or external values (Genia, 1998).

7. Problem • Novel and lacking research • The relationship between religious orientation and sociocultural influences of body image. • Limited research • Investigating the interactions between the sociocultural and protective factors that intrinsic religious orientation may provide for young women. • (Boyatzis, et al., 2007; Jacobs-Pilipski et al., 2005; Mahoney et al., 2005)

8. Health and wellness education at private religious high schools and colleges. • Moral communities (Johnson & Mullins, 2006). • Understand the literature of Allport’s religious orientation: • Extrinsic Religious Orientation - Health-compromising • Intrinsic Religious Orientation - Health-promoting • (Forthun, 2003; Hathaway & Pargament, 1990) • Educators at religious institutions may become more aware of and focus on the risk factors associated with body image dissatisfaction.

9. Sociocultural Theory • Dissatisfaction with physical appearance stems from: • the thin body ideal promulgated in Western societies • “body as object” vs. “body as process” orientation • the “thin is good” • Rewards for being attractive • Costs associated with being unattractive (Morris, 2003)

10. Mass Media • Strongest conveyors sociocultural assumptions • (Stice et al., 1994) • Religious Orientation: • Intrinsic Religious Orientation • Protective factor for: • Health disparities (e.g., alcohol abuse, depression) • Negative societal influences regarding physical appearance? • Extrinsic Religious Orientation • Health-compromising traits: anxiety, insecurity, and self-righteousness. • (Forthun, 2003; Koenig et al., 1998)

11. Research Questions • What is the relationship between religious orientation and body image concerns among college female students? • What is the relationship between religious orientation and the “thin body ideal” among college female students? • What is the relationship between body image concerns and the “thin body ideal” among college female students? • What is the relationship between religious orientation, body image concerns and the “thin body ideal” among college female students?

12. Procedures • Random Sample • e-mail link to Blackboard survey • female undergraduate students ages of 18 – 24 • response rate of 41%, (N=231) • A faith based University • incorporate religious faith into the mission, governance, administration, criteria for faculty hiring, curricula, student life, campus ministries, policies, and procedures of the university (Litfin, 2004).

13. Variables • Independent Variables • Religious Orientation • Intrinsic Religious Orientation • Extrinsic Religious Orientation • Dependent Variables • Sociocultural attitudes towards appearance • Internalization General • Internalization Athletic • Media as Pressure • Media as Knowledge • Body Image Concerns • Appearance Orientation • Appearance Evaluation • Overweight Preoccupation • Self-Classified Weight

14. Religious Orientation Scale

15. Multidimensional Body-Self Relations Questionnaire- Appearance Scales

16. Sociocultural Attitudes Toward Appearance Questionnaire-3

17. Demographics

18. Demographics (continued)

19. Descriptive Statistics of Study Variables (N=231)

20. Results

22. Hypotheses 1:Female college students who report higher scores of intrinsic religiosity will have lower body image concerns.

23. Hypothesis 2:Female college students who report higher scores of extrinsic religious orientation will have higher body image concerns.

24. Hypothesis 3: Female college students who report higher scores of intrinsic religiosity will have lower sociocultural influence scores.

25. Hypothesis 4: Female college students who report higher scores of extrinsic religiosity will have higher sociocultural attitudes scores.

26. Hypothesis 5:Female college students who report higher sociocultural attitudes scores will have higher positive body image concerns.

27. Hypothesis 6: Higher levels of intrinsic religious orientation scores and lower levels of sociocultural attitudes scores will predict lower body image concerns in female college students. • Hypothesis 7: Higher levels of extrinsic religious orientation scores and higher levels of sociocultural attitudes scores will predict higher body image concerns in female college students.

28. Correlation Matrix among Dependent Body Image Concerns Subscales & Demographic Variables

29. Hierarchal Regression Analysis – Dependent variable Appearance Orientation

30. Hierarchal Regression Analysis – Dependent Variable Appearance Evaluation

31. Hierarchal Regression Analysis – Dependent Variable Overweight Preoccupation

32. Hierarchal Regression Analysis – Dependent variable Self-Classified Weight

33. Conclusions

34. Intrinsic Religious Orientation • Consistently correlated with less influence from sociocultural attitudes towards appearance and greater body image satisfaction. • Correlations mild to moderately significant, in support of the research hypothesis. • May promote: • healthy sense of self-worth independent of the sociocultural attitudes towards appearance that can lead to body image dissatisfaction. • thinking of the body as holy and sacred and provides a cognitive framing that can enhance body image (Boyatzis et al, 2007). • Explain only a small amount of the variance in only Appearance Evaluation. • KEY • Religious supporters need to look at and understand all the dimensions of body image and the sociocultural influences when educating girls and young women on body image satisfaction and its influences.

35. Extrinsic Religious Orientation • Consistently correlated with more influence from sociocultural attitudes towards appearance and body image dissatisfaction in female college students. • Correlations were mild to moderately significant and in support of most of the research hypothesis. • Explained some of the variance in Appearance Orientation and Overweight Preoccupation. • Surprising were the results from the correlation and regression results of extrinsic religious orientation due to lack of focus. • May lack any guiding principles over the influences of sociocultural attitudes towards appearance that can promote dissatisfaction with one’s own body. • Can be associated with a way of construction a worldly view on body image that can lead to dissatisfaction.

36. Sociocultural Variables • Sociocultural variables were significantly correlated with body image concerns. • Internalization general explained the majority of variance in body image concerns. • The societal emphasis of appearance through media related influences, such as TV, magazines, and movies were found to place more importance on their looks, feel less satisfied with their appearance and were more likely to be preoccupied with being overweight. • Results, consistent with other studies

37. Demographic Variables • Carefully chosen • Significant correlations • Explained most of the variance: • appearance evaluation, overweight preoccupation and self- classified weight. • Women with a higher BMI felt lower feelings of attractiveness and lower satisfaction with one’s looks, were more likely to diet and carryout excessive eating restraints and labeled themselves as overweight. • Results, consistent with other studies

38. Limitations & Delimitations Study is limited to: • Self - report may lead to social desirability bias in respondents. • Not experimental. Study is delimited to: • College aged students enrolled at the university used for this study. • Research of female’s self-reported measures of the study variables.

39. Future Research • Provide some support for the relationship between religious orientation and the sociocultural attitudes towards appearance and body image satisfaction. • Theory driven research and validated measures of religiosity. • Results may foster new ideas and growth within the field of psychology and religion. • A similar study with a diverse religious and ethnic sample (secular institution). • Scale that measure religious development. • Longitudinal research comparing a religious sample and a secular sample. • Participants could be followed from middle school through their college years.

40. References • Boyatzis, C., Kline, S., & Backof, S. (2007). Experimental Evidence that Theistic- Religious Body Affirmations Improve Women's Body Image. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 46 (4) 553 - 564. • Boyatzis, C. J., & McConnell, K. M. (2006) Quest orientation in young women: Age trends during emerging adult and relations to body image an disordered eating. Internal Journal for the Psychology of Religion. 16(3), 197 - 207. • Forthun, L. F., Pidcock B. W. & Fisher J. L. (2003). Religiousness and disordered eating: does religiousness modify family risk? Eating Behaviors, 4 (1) 7 – 26. • Hathaway, W., & Pargament, K. (1990). Intrinsic religiousness, religious coping, and psychosocial competence: A covariance structure analysis. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 29, 423-441. • Jacobs - Pilipski, M. J., Winzelberg, A., Wilfey, D. E., Bryson, S. W., & Barr, T. C. (2005). Spirituality among young women at risk for eating disorders. Eating Behaviors, 6(4) 293 – 300.

41. References (continued) • Johnson, M.A., & Mullins, P. (2006). Moral communities: Religious and secular. Journal of Community Psychology, 18(2) 153 – 166. • Liftin, D. (2004). Conceiving the Christian College. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company • Mahoney, A., Carels, R. A., Pargament, K. I., Wachholtz, A., Leeper, L. E., Kaplar, M., & Frutchey, R. (2005). The sanctification of the body and behavioral health patterns of college students. The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 15(3), 221-238. • Morrison, T. G., (2004). Body-image evaluation and body-image investment among adolescents: a test of sociocultural and social comparison theories. Adolescence, 39, 573-91. • Stice, E., Schupak-Neuberg, E., Shaw, H. E., & Stein, R. I. (1994). Relation of media exposure to eating disorder symptomatology: An examination of mediating mechanisms. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 103, 836-840.   • Tiggemann, M., & Pickering, A. S. (1996). Role of television in adolescent women's body dissatisfaction and drive for thinness. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 20, 199 - 203.