Body Image Survey Results

Psychology Today conducted readership surveys of body image in 1972, 1985, and 1996. Readers were asked how they see,
feel, and are influenced by their bodies. The 1996 survey findings are published in the February 1997 issue of the magazine.
Because the results are based on the first 4,000 people to respond to the five-page questionnaire, it is hardly a representative
sample of the American population (keep that in mind as you read).

1. Compared with earlier surveys, body dissatisfaction is soaring. A total of 89 percent of

women respondents say they want to lose weight; 22 percent of the males say they want to
gain weight.
2. Fifteen percent of the women and 11 percent of the men say they would sacrifice more
than five years of their lives to be the weight they want. Twenty-four percent of women and 17
percent of men say they would give up more than three years.
3. While body dissatisfaction stays about the same as women age, women are being initiated
into feelings of body hatred at an earlier age.
4. Body dissatisfaction affects those women who describe themselves as feminists (32
percent) as well as those who say they are more traditional (49 percent). Feminists do indicate
that they are less willing to use such drastic measures as vomiting to control their weight.
5. Pregnancy is increasingly being viewed as an encumbrance to body image. Some women
say they are choosing not to have children for this reason.
6. Sexual abuse is a significant contributor to body
dissatisfaction. However, only women who have
been abused think so. Other women do not seem
to grasp the damage that abuse can do to feelings
about the body.
7. Teasing during childhood or adolescence has a lasting effect on women’s
feelings about their bodies. Women report that the negative impact can
last for decades, no matter what their current shape.
8. Respondents say that exercising is the most reliable way to develop
positive feelings about one’s body.
9. Models in the media have a large effect on the way women see
themselves. At the same time, a model backlash seems to be in the making.
More than three out of ten women say that models make them feel angry and resentful. Media models make more
than four out of ten women feel insecure. Respondents say they are eager to see models that are more representative
of the normal range of body types.

In early 2003, Ladies Home Journal reported results from a body image survey of 900 women who responded through the
magazine’s Web site. (Although the respondents were mostly married and reflected the national averages for height and
weight, they clearly did not constitute a representative sample of the American population.) Among the most interesting
findings were the following:

• On a scale from 1 to 10, 43 percent rated their bodies between 6 and 9. One
percent said they were perfect, 20 percent ranked themselves at 5.
• One out of three said they were currently on a diet. Those who weighed 141 to
150 were more likely to be on a diet than those who weighed more or less
(perhaps because they felt they had a better chance of losing the weight.)
• When given a choice between a facelift or a refurbished kitchen, 78 percent
picked the kitchen.
• 52 percent would rather have smaller hips or thighs than a two-week vacation “to
get away from it all.”
• 87 percent said it's more acceptable for men to go gray and get out of shape than
it is for women.
• 75 percent said they would rather have a root canal than wear a thong bikini.

Garner, D. M. (1997, February). The 1997 body image survey results. Psychology Today, 30–44, 75–78, 84.