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Weight discrepancy and body appreciation of Zimbabwean women in Zimbabwe and Britain
Body Image 9 (2012) 559–562
Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect
Body Image journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/bodyimage
Brief research report
Weight discrepancy and body appreciation of Zimbabwean women in Zimbabwe and Britain Viren Swami a,b,∗ , Rujeko Mada a , Martin J. Tovée c a
Department of Psychology, University of Westminster, London, UK Department of Psychology, HELP University College, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia c School of Psychology, Newcastle University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK b
a r t i c l e
i n f o
a b s t r a c t
Article history: Received 15 March 2012 Received in revised form 17 May 2012 Accepted 17 May 2012 Keywords: Weight discrepancy Body appreciation Migration Media exposure Zimbabwe
Few studies have investigated a cultural group’s corporeal experiences in both its country of origin and a host, Western country using the same methodology. To overcome this dearth in the literature, the present study examined body image among 140 women in Harare, Zimbabwe, and an age-matched sample of 138 Zimbabwean migrants in Britain. Participants completed measures of actual-ideal weight discrepancy, body appreciation, and lifetime exposure to Western and Zimbabwean media. Preliminary analyses showed that there were no significant differences in body mass index between the two groups. Further analyses showed that Zimbabwean women in Britain had significantly greater weight discrepancy and lower body appreciation than their counterparts in Zimbabwe. In addition, weight discrepancy and body appreciation among both samples were significantly associated with exposure to Western media, but not Zimbabwean media. These findings support the contention that transcultural migration may place individuals at risk for symptoms of negative body image. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Introduction Negative body image and eating disorders were once considered to be culture-bound syndromes, more prevalent in Westernized societies (Soh, Touyz, & Surgenor, 2006). However, recent surveys have indicated that body dissatisfaction and disordered eating now show global distribution (Soh et al., 2006; Swami et al., 2010). In explaining these developments, scholars have focused on the roles of modernization, urbanization, and globalization in promulgating a thin ideal across cultures, which in turn is associated with increased incidence of negative body image and disordered eating (Anderson-Fye & Becker, 2004; Swami & Tovée, 2005). To date, however, few studies have considered the incidence of negative body image among non-Western migrants in both their origin and host cultures (Soh et al., 2006). This is an important oversight because some scholars believe that transmigration, and in particular cultural distance and difference, contribute to the etiology of negative body image (DiNicola, 1990). Certainly, there is evidence that non-Western migrants to Europe alter their body size ideals to conform to their host culture (Bush, Williams, Lean,
∗ Corresponding author at: Department of Psychology, University of Westminster, 309 Regent Street, London W1B 2UW, UK. Tel.: +44 2079115000. E-mail address: [email protected] (V. Swami). 1740-1445/$ – see front matter © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2012.05.006
& Anderson, 2001; Furnham & Alibhai, 1983; Nicolaou, Doak, van Dam, Hosper, Seidell, & Stronks, 2008). For example, South African Zulus who have migrated to Britain adopt a thin ideal, in contrast to their peers in South Africa who maintain a preference for larger body size ideal (Tovée, Furnham, & Swami, 2007; Tovée, Swami, Furnham, & Mangalparsad, 2006). In turn, the positive valuation of thinness may contribute to greater incidence of body image disturbance among migrants relative to individuals in their country of origin (Toriola, Dolan, Evans, & Adetimole, 1996). Here, we sought to contribute to the extant literature by focusing on the body image of Zimbabwean women. Zimbabwe was selected both because of a dearth of research on corporeal experiences in this national context (for one exception, see Hooper & Garner, 1986) and the high degree of sociopolitical flux in the country’s recent history. Specifically, economic difficulties and hyperinflation between 1999 and 2008, as well as the HIV/AIDS pandemic, have contributed to a dramatic decline in health indices (World Health Organization, 2011) and a protracted political crisis has meant the implementation of strict media laws that prohibited foreign corporations from broadcasting in Zimbabwe until recently. In the present study, then, we compared differences in body image between Zimbabwean women in Zimbabwe and Britain. We operationalized body image in our study in terms of actualideal weight discrepancy and body appreciation, the latter based on the suggestion of between-group differences as a function of
560
V. Swami et al. / Body Image 9 (2012) 559–562
socioeconomic development (Swami, Kannan, & Furnham, in press). After DiNicola (1990), we hypothesized that Zimbabwean women in Britain would show more negative body image (i.e., higher weight discrepancy and lower body appreciation) compared with their peers in Zimbabwe. We also examined associations between these measures of body image and exposure to Western and Zimbabwean media, with the expectation that greater exposure to Western, but not Zimbabwean, media would be associated with more negative body image. Method Participants Zimbabwe. Participants in Zimbabwe were 140 women from the community in Harare, the country’s administrative and commercial center. In the past decade, Harare has been adversely affected by the sociopolitical crisis in the country, resulting in a decline in living standards. In this group, participants ranged in age from 18 to 46 years (M = 25.34, SD = 6.87) and in self-reported body mass index (BMI) from 17.57 to 37.46 kg/m2 (M = 24.81, SD = 4.61). The majority of participants in this group were of Shona (72.9%) or Ndebele ancestry (21.4%), whereas the remainder was of other African ancestry. Britain. Participants in Britain were 138 Zimbabwean women from the community in London, England. All participants were firstgeneration economic migrants who had been in Britain for between 1 and 23 years (M = 5.28, SD = 4.82). Participants in this group ranged in age from 18 to 49 years (M = 26.61, SD = 6.70) and in self-reported BMI from 18.01 to 37.33 (M = 24.88, SD = 4.62). In total, 79.0% of this sample was of Shona ancestry, whereas 19.6% was of Ndebele ancestry and 1.4% was of other African ancestry. Measures Weight discrepancy. To measure actual-ideal weight discrepancy, we used the Photographic Figure Rating Scale (PFRS; Swami, Salem, Furnham, & Tovée, 2008; images are depicted therein), which presents participants with 10 photographic images of women ranging in body size from emaciated to obese. Participants were asked to select the figure that most closely matched their own body and the figure that they would most like to possess, with ratings made on a 10-point scale (1 = Figure with the lowest BMI, 10 = Figure with the highest BMI). A measure of weight discrepancy was computed as the difference between unsigned current and ideal ratings. We also asked participants to select the figure they believed men of their age and cultural group found most physically attractive and the figure that best represents the body that is typical for a woman of their age and cultural background. The PFRS has been shown to have good psychometric properties and test–retest reliability after 3 weeks (Swami, Salem, et al., 2008; Swami, Stieger, et al., in press; Swami, Taylor, & Carvalho, 2011) and has been previously used in cross-cultural contexts (Swami, Tovée, & Harris, in press). Body appreciation. To measure body appreciation, we used the Body Appreciation Scale (BAS; Avalos, Tylka, & Wood-Barcalow, 2005), a 13-item measure of positive body image that asks participants to rate a series of statements (1 = Never, 5 = Always). Among Western samples, the BAS has been shown to have a onedimensional factor structure and good psychometric properties (Avalos et al., 2005; Swami, Stieger, Haubner, & Voracek, 2008). Among non-Western samples, however, the BAS appears to consist of two subscales measuring general body appreciation and body image investment, respectively (Swami, Campana, Ferreira, Barrett, Harris, & Tavares, 2011; Swami & Chamorro-Premuzic,
2008). Because the BAS has not previously been used among a Zimbabwean sample, we examined its factor structure in this study. Media exposure. Participants rated their lifetime exposure to Western and Zimbabwean media, respectively, across four items (television, movies, magazines, and music). All ratings were made on 7-point scale (1 = Not at all, 7 = Very much). Previous work has suggested that the four items reduce into a reliable, single factor (Swami et al., 2010). We, therefore, calculated two scores for Western and Zimbabwean media exposure, respectively (˛s for all cases ≥ .84). Demographics. Participants provided their demographic details consisting of age, ethnicity, height, and weight. The latter two variables were used to calculate participants’ self-reported BMI, which previous work has shown to be highly correlated with measured BMI among samples from developing nations (Lim, Seubsman, & Sleigh, 2009). Procedure Ethical approval to conduct this study was obtained from the relevant university ethics committee. Because English is an official language in Zimbabwe and widely used by Zimbabweans, the survey was presented in English in both settings. Two researchers initially recruited participants from Harare using an opportunistic method of sampling. Potential participants were approached in public spaces and invited to take part in a study on women’s health. Once data collection in Zimbabwe was complete, the same two researchers recruited an age-matched sample of Zimbabwean women in London using a snowball-sampling technique. As before, participants were invited to take part in a study on women’s health. All participants provided informed consent and completed paperand-pencil surveys in which the order of presentation of the scales was counterbalanced. Once the survey was completed, participants were provided with a debrief sheet containing further information about the project. All participants took part on a voluntary basis and were not remunerated for participation.
Results Preliminary Analyses Table 1 presents descriptive statistics and the results of independent samples t-tests between Zimbabwean women in Britain and their counterparts in Zimbabwe for all variables included in this study. As can be seen, preliminary analyses showed that there were no significant between-group differences in participant age and self-reported BMI. There was also no significant between-group difference in the distribution of ethnic groups, 2 (6) = 5.04, p = .539, ϕ = .13. Table 1 also shows that the migrant group reported significantly greater lifetime exposure to Western media and significantly lower lifetime exposure to Zimbabwean media than non-migrant women. Weight Discrepancy As seen in Table 1, Zimbabwean women in Britain had significantly greater weight discrepancy than their peers in Zimbabwe. This difference appeared to be driven by a perception among the migrant group, relative to their non-migrant peers, that they have a significantly larger current body size and would like to have a significantly smaller body size. In addition, the women in Britain believed that men idealized a significantly thinner body than did the women in Zimbabwe. Finally, the migrant group believed that
V. Swami et al. / Body Image 9 (2012) 559–562
561
Table 1 Descriptive statistics (M and SD) and between-group differences for all key variables included in the present study by group. Item
Group
Difference
Zimbabwe (n = 140)
Actual-ideal weight discrepancy Current body Ideal body Figure that men find most attractive Figure that is typical of women General body appreciation Lifetime exposure to Western media Lifetime exposure to Zimbabwean media Self-reported body mass index Age *
Britain (n = 138)
M
SD
M
SD
1.19 4.54 4.99 5.17 4.71 4.08 4.53 6.53 24.81 25.34
0.93 1.91 1.10 1.07 1.16 0.63 1.42 1.05 4.61 6.87
1.64 5.89 4.39 4.31 5.34 3.41 6.60 4.47 24.88 26.61
0.95 1.95 1.35 1.47 1.23 0.48 4.53 1.65 4.62 6.70
t
d
4.00* 5.84* 4.06* 5.59* 4.41* 10.04* 15.53* 12.40* 0.12 1.56
0.48 0.70 0.49 0.67 0.53 1.21 1.87 1.49 0.01 0.19
Significant at p < .001.
Table 2 Inter-scale correlations between weight discrepancy, body appreciation, exposure to Western media, exposure to Zimbabwean media, self-reported body mass index (BMI) and age (results for Zimbabwean women in Britain are reported in the top diagonal and results for women in Zimbabwe in the bottom diagonal). (1) (1) Weight discrepancy (2) Body appreciation (3) Exposure to Western media (4) Exposure to Zimbabwean media (5) Self-reported BMI (6) Age *
−.21* .24* .06 .01 .10
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
−.20*
.23* −.21*
.08 −.05 .14
.02 −.11 −.04 −.06
.04 .05 −.13 .06 .22*
−.24* −.11 .01 .01
.02 −.13 .03
.09 .22*
.23*
p < .05.
the typical body size for women was significantly larger than did the non-migrant group. Body Appreciation We conducted exploratory factor analyses of the BAS data for the migrant and non-migrant groups separately. For both samples, the significance of Bartlett’s test of sphericity (2 ≥ 404.33, ps < .001) and the Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin measure of sampling adequacy (KMOs ≥ .90) showed that the BAS items had adequate common variance for factor analysis. For both factor analyses, we used a varimax rotation, with the number of factors to be extracted determined by > 1.0 and an extraction criteria of .40. Among the migrant sample, two factors emerged after three iterations ( = 4.17 and 2.80), explaining 32.08% and 21.55% of the variance, respectively. As with Brazilian data (Swami, Campana, et al., 2011), ten of the BAS items loaded onto a General Body Appreciation factor (factor loadings ≥ .43; ˛ = .88) and 3 items (#8, 9, and 12; ˛ = .64) loaded onto a Body Image Investment factor (factor loadings ≥ .53). Among the non-migrant sample, two factors emerged after three iterations ( = 2.95 and 2.42), explaining 26.66% and 18.58% of the variance, respectively. As before, 10 items loaded onto a General Body Appreciation factor (factor loadings ≥ .45; ˛ = .90), but only one item (#9) loaded onto the second factor. Two items (#8 and 12) failed to load onto either factor (factor loadings ≤ .14). Given the problems associated with the second factor, we only calculated an overall score for General Body Appreciation. The non-migrant sample had significantly higher general body appreciation than the migrant sample (see Table 1). Inter-scale Correlations Inter-scale correlations between all variables included in the present study are reported in Table 2. As can be seen, among women in Zimbabwe, weight discrepancy and body appreciation were significantly correlated, and each of these variables was also significantly correlated with exposure to Western media. The same
pattern of results was found for women in Britain, with weight discrepancy and body appreciation being significantly correlated, and each of these variables showing a significant relationship with exposure to Western media. Using Fisher r-to-z transformations, we found no significant between-group differences on any of the correlation coefficients (all zs ≤ 0.26, all ps ≥ .794), suggesting that patterns of association were similar across groups. For women in Britain specifically, further analyses showed that there was no significant correlation between time in the host culture and weight discrepancy and body appreciation, respectively (rs < .14). For this sample, we also examined partial correlations between weight discrepancy, body appreciation, and exposure to Western media, controlling for length of residence in Britain. Results showed that exposure to Western media remained significantly correlated with both weight discrepancy (r = .20, p = .018) and body appreciation (r = −.22, p = .010), once the duration of residency in Britain had been controlled for. Discussion The present results showed that Zimbabwean migrants to Britain had more negative body image than their counterparts in Zimbabwe. These findings are consistent with the suggestion that a change in culture places individuals at greater risk for developing body image and eating disorders (DiNicola, 1990). In terms of weight discrepancy specifically, we found that Zimbabwean migrants in Britain had greater weight discrepancy than their peers in Zimbabwe, which seems to have been driven by the perception that they have larger body sizes (despite no significant betweengroup difference in self-reported BMI) and also seek to adopt a thinner ideal. The latter result in particular is consistent with findings showing that non-Western migrants in Europe conform to the body size ideals of their host culture (Nicolaou et al., 2008; Tovée et al., 2006, 2007), which puts them at risk for body dissatisfaction (Toriola et al., 1996). Our results also showed that the BAS did not reduce factorially to one dimension, as has been found among Western samples (Avalos
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et al., 2005); rather, there was one dominant factor related to general body appreciation, which is consistent with work conducted among other non-Western samples (Swami, Campana, et al., 2011; Swami & Chamorro-Premuzic, 2008). A secondary factor related to body image investment had poor internal consistency among the migrant sample and failed to reduce among the non-migrant sample. When we compared scores on general body appreciation, we found that Zimbabwean women in Zimbabwe had significantly higher scores than their peers in Britain, which is consistent with suggestions that the process of transcultural migration has a detrimental impact on corporeal experiences (DiNicola, 1990). We also found that, among both samples, greater exposure to Western media was associated with greater weight discrepancy and lower body appreciation. The strength of these correlations was small to medium and is consistent with a previous study that reported similar correlation coefficients across cultures (Swami et al., 2010). Finally, we also found that length of residence in Britain among our migrant sample was not associated with body image measures, nor did the former significantly affect the strength of the associations between body image variables and exposure to Western media. These results appear to corroborate a recent study showing no significant associations between body size ideals and degree of acculturation (Nicolaou et al., 2008). The main strength of this study was the use of a consistent methodology to examine body image among a non-Western sample in both its country of origin and host culture. On the other hand, limitations of the present work include the reliance on nonrepresentative samples of women in both contexts, which limits the generalizability of our findings. In addition, although English is widely understood and used in Zimbabwe, presentation of the survey in Shona or IsiNdebele may have improved understanding. We also did not measure participants’ social status and, as such, we cannot discount the possibility that our findings were an artifact of group differences in social status. Finally, future research would do well to conduct a more thorough evaluation of the metric invariance of key measures, which would enhance the ability to make comparisons across cultures. These limitations aside, our results suggest that public health promotion efforts may need to target migrant populations from non-Western cultures. References Anderson-Fye, E., & Becker, A. E. (2004). Socio-cultural aspects of eating disorders. In J. K. Thompson (Ed.), Handbook of eating disorders and obesity (pp. 565–589). New York, NY: Wiley. Avalos, L., Tylka, T. L., & Wood-Barcalow, N. (2005). The Body Appreciation Scale: Development and psychometric evaluation. Body Image, 2, 285–297.
Bush, H. M., Williams, R. G., Lean, M. E., & Anderson, A. S. (2001). Body image and weight consciousness among South Asian, Italian, and general population women in Britain. Appetite, 37, 207–215. DiNicola, V. F. (1990). Anorexia multiforme: Self-starvation in historical and cultural context: II. Anorexia nervosa as a culture-reactive syndrome. Transcultural Psychiatric Research Review, 27, 245–286. Furnham, A., & Alibhai, N. (1983). Cross-cultural differences in the perception of female body shapes. Psychological Medicine, 13, 829–837. Hooper, M. S., & Garner, D. M. (1986). Applications of the Eating Disorders Inventory to a sample of black, white, and mixed race schoolgirls in Zimbabwe. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 5, 161–168. Lim, L. L. Y., Seubsman, S.-A., & Sleigh, A. (2009). Validity of self-reported weight, height, and body mass index among university students in Thailand: Implications for population studies of obesity in developing countries. Population Health Metrics, 7, 15–22. Nicolaou, M., Doak, C., van Dam, R., Hosper, K., Seidell, J., & Stronks, K. (2008). Body size preference and body weight perception among two migrant groups of nonWestern origin. Public Health Nutrition, 11, 1332–1341. Soh, N. L., Touyz, S. W., & Surgenor, L. J. (2006). Eating and body image disturbances across cultures: A review. European Eating Disorders Review, 14, 54–65. Swami, V., Campana, A. N. N. B., Fereirra, L., Barrett, S., Harris, A. S., & Tavares, M. C. G. C. F. (2011). The Acceptance of Cosmetic Surgery Scale: Initial examination of its factor structure and correlates among Brazilian adults. Body Image, 8, 179–185. Swami, V., & Chamorro-Premuzic, T. (2008). Factor structure of the Body Appreciation Scale among Malaysian women. Body Image, 5, 409–413. Swami, V., Frederick, D. A., Aavik, T., Alcalay, L., Allik, J., Anderson, D., et al. (2010). Body weight ideals and body dissatisfaction in 26 countries across 10 world regions: Results of the International Body Project I. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 36, 309–325. Swami, V., Kannan, K., & Furnham, A. (in press). Positive body image: Inter-ethnic and rural–urban differences among an indigenous sample from Malaysian Borneo. International Journal of Social Psychiatry. Swami, V., Salem, N., Furnham, A., & Tovée, M. J. (2008). Initial examination of the validity and reliability of the female Photographic Figure Rating Scale for body image assessment. Personality and Individual Differences, 44, 1752–1761. Swami, V., Stieger, S., Harris, A. M., Nader, I. W., Pietschnig, J., Voracek, M., et al. (in press). Further investigation of the validity and reliability of the Photographic Figure Rating Scale for body image assessment. Journal of Personality Assessment. Swami, V., Stieger, S., Haubner, T., & Voracek, M. (2008). German translation and psychometric evaluation of Body Appreciation Scale. Body Image, 5, 122–127. Swami, V., Taylor, R., & Carvalho, C. (2011). Body dissatisfaction assessed by the Photographic Figure Rating Scale is associated with sociocultural, personality, and media influences. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 52, 57–63. Swami, V., & Tovée, M. J. (2005). Female physical attractiveness in Britain and Malaysia: A cross-cultural study. Body Image, 2, 115–128. Swami, V., Tovée, M. J., & Harris, A. S. (in press). An examination of ethnic differences in actual-ideal body weight discrepancy and its correlates in a sample of Malaysian women. International Journal of Culture and Mental Health. Toriola, A. L., Dolan, B. M., Evans, C., & Adetimole, O. (1996). Weight satisfaction of Nigerian women in Nigeria and Britain: Inter-generational and cross-cultural influences. European Eating Disorders Review, 4, 84–94. Tovée, M. J., Furnham, A., & Swami, V. (2007). Healthy body equals beautiful body? Changing perceptions of health and attractiveness with shifting socioeconomic status. In V. Swami & A. Furnham (Eds.), Body beautiful: Evolutionary and sociocultural perspectives (pp. 108–128). Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. Tovée, M. J., Swami, V., Furnham, A., & Mangalparsad, R. (2006). Changing perceptions of attractiveness as observers are exposed to a different culture. Evolution and Human Behavior, 27, 443–456. World Health Organization. (2011). Zimbabwe: Health profile. Retrieved on March 6, 2012, from http://www.who.int/gho/countries/zwe.pdf
Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect
Body Image journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/bodyimage
Brief research report
Weight discrepancy and body appreciation of Zimbabwean women in Zimbabwe and Britain Viren Swami a,b,∗ , Rujeko Mada a , Martin J. Tovée c a
Department of Psychology, University of Westminster, London, UK Department of Psychology, HELP University College, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia c School of Psychology, Newcastle University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK b
a r t i c l e
i n f o
a b s t r a c t
Article history: Received 15 March 2012 Received in revised form 17 May 2012 Accepted 17 May 2012 Keywords: Weight discrepancy Body appreciation Migration Media exposure Zimbabwe
Few studies have investigated a cultural group’s corporeal experiences in both its country of origin and a host, Western country using the same methodology. To overcome this dearth in the literature, the present study examined body image among 140 women in Harare, Zimbabwe, and an age-matched sample of 138 Zimbabwean migrants in Britain. Participants completed measures of actual-ideal weight discrepancy, body appreciation, and lifetime exposure to Western and Zimbabwean media. Preliminary analyses showed that there were no significant differences in body mass index between the two groups. Further analyses showed that Zimbabwean women in Britain had significantly greater weight discrepancy and lower body appreciation than their counterparts in Zimbabwe. In addition, weight discrepancy and body appreciation among both samples were significantly associated with exposure to Western media, but not Zimbabwean media. These findings support the contention that transcultural migration may place individuals at risk for symptoms of negative body image. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Introduction Negative body image and eating disorders were once considered to be culture-bound syndromes, more prevalent in Westernized societies (Soh, Touyz, & Surgenor, 2006). However, recent surveys have indicated that body dissatisfaction and disordered eating now show global distribution (Soh et al., 2006; Swami et al., 2010). In explaining these developments, scholars have focused on the roles of modernization, urbanization, and globalization in promulgating a thin ideal across cultures, which in turn is associated with increased incidence of negative body image and disordered eating (Anderson-Fye & Becker, 2004; Swami & Tovée, 2005). To date, however, few studies have considered the incidence of negative body image among non-Western migrants in both their origin and host cultures (Soh et al., 2006). This is an important oversight because some scholars believe that transmigration, and in particular cultural distance and difference, contribute to the etiology of negative body image (DiNicola, 1990). Certainly, there is evidence that non-Western migrants to Europe alter their body size ideals to conform to their host culture (Bush, Williams, Lean,
∗ Corresponding author at: Department of Psychology, University of Westminster, 309 Regent Street, London W1B 2UW, UK. Tel.: +44 2079115000. E-mail address: [email protected] (V. Swami). 1740-1445/$ – see front matter © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2012.05.006
& Anderson, 2001; Furnham & Alibhai, 1983; Nicolaou, Doak, van Dam, Hosper, Seidell, & Stronks, 2008). For example, South African Zulus who have migrated to Britain adopt a thin ideal, in contrast to their peers in South Africa who maintain a preference for larger body size ideal (Tovée, Furnham, & Swami, 2007; Tovée, Swami, Furnham, & Mangalparsad, 2006). In turn, the positive valuation of thinness may contribute to greater incidence of body image disturbance among migrants relative to individuals in their country of origin (Toriola, Dolan, Evans, & Adetimole, 1996). Here, we sought to contribute to the extant literature by focusing on the body image of Zimbabwean women. Zimbabwe was selected both because of a dearth of research on corporeal experiences in this national context (for one exception, see Hooper & Garner, 1986) and the high degree of sociopolitical flux in the country’s recent history. Specifically, economic difficulties and hyperinflation between 1999 and 2008, as well as the HIV/AIDS pandemic, have contributed to a dramatic decline in health indices (World Health Organization, 2011) and a protracted political crisis has meant the implementation of strict media laws that prohibited foreign corporations from broadcasting in Zimbabwe until recently. In the present study, then, we compared differences in body image between Zimbabwean women in Zimbabwe and Britain. We operationalized body image in our study in terms of actualideal weight discrepancy and body appreciation, the latter based on the suggestion of between-group differences as a function of
560
V. Swami et al. / Body Image 9 (2012) 559–562
socioeconomic development (Swami, Kannan, & Furnham, in press). After DiNicola (1990), we hypothesized that Zimbabwean women in Britain would show more negative body image (i.e., higher weight discrepancy and lower body appreciation) compared with their peers in Zimbabwe. We also examined associations between these measures of body image and exposure to Western and Zimbabwean media, with the expectation that greater exposure to Western, but not Zimbabwean, media would be associated with more negative body image. Method Participants Zimbabwe. Participants in Zimbabwe were 140 women from the community in Harare, the country’s administrative and commercial center. In the past decade, Harare has been adversely affected by the sociopolitical crisis in the country, resulting in a decline in living standards. In this group, participants ranged in age from 18 to 46 years (M = 25.34, SD = 6.87) and in self-reported body mass index (BMI) from 17.57 to 37.46 kg/m2 (M = 24.81, SD = 4.61). The majority of participants in this group were of Shona (72.9%) or Ndebele ancestry (21.4%), whereas the remainder was of other African ancestry. Britain. Participants in Britain were 138 Zimbabwean women from the community in London, England. All participants were firstgeneration economic migrants who had been in Britain for between 1 and 23 years (M = 5.28, SD = 4.82). Participants in this group ranged in age from 18 to 49 years (M = 26.61, SD = 6.70) and in self-reported BMI from 18.01 to 37.33 (M = 24.88, SD = 4.62). In total, 79.0% of this sample was of Shona ancestry, whereas 19.6% was of Ndebele ancestry and 1.4% was of other African ancestry. Measures Weight discrepancy. To measure actual-ideal weight discrepancy, we used the Photographic Figure Rating Scale (PFRS; Swami, Salem, Furnham, & Tovée, 2008; images are depicted therein), which presents participants with 10 photographic images of women ranging in body size from emaciated to obese. Participants were asked to select the figure that most closely matched their own body and the figure that they would most like to possess, with ratings made on a 10-point scale (1 = Figure with the lowest BMI, 10 = Figure with the highest BMI). A measure of weight discrepancy was computed as the difference between unsigned current and ideal ratings. We also asked participants to select the figure they believed men of their age and cultural group found most physically attractive and the figure that best represents the body that is typical for a woman of their age and cultural background. The PFRS has been shown to have good psychometric properties and test–retest reliability after 3 weeks (Swami, Salem, et al., 2008; Swami, Stieger, et al., in press; Swami, Taylor, & Carvalho, 2011) and has been previously used in cross-cultural contexts (Swami, Tovée, & Harris, in press). Body appreciation. To measure body appreciation, we used the Body Appreciation Scale (BAS; Avalos, Tylka, & Wood-Barcalow, 2005), a 13-item measure of positive body image that asks participants to rate a series of statements (1 = Never, 5 = Always). Among Western samples, the BAS has been shown to have a onedimensional factor structure and good psychometric properties (Avalos et al., 2005; Swami, Stieger, Haubner, & Voracek, 2008). Among non-Western samples, however, the BAS appears to consist of two subscales measuring general body appreciation and body image investment, respectively (Swami, Campana, Ferreira, Barrett, Harris, & Tavares, 2011; Swami & Chamorro-Premuzic,
2008). Because the BAS has not previously been used among a Zimbabwean sample, we examined its factor structure in this study. Media exposure. Participants rated their lifetime exposure to Western and Zimbabwean media, respectively, across four items (television, movies, magazines, and music). All ratings were made on 7-point scale (1 = Not at all, 7 = Very much). Previous work has suggested that the four items reduce into a reliable, single factor (Swami et al., 2010). We, therefore, calculated two scores for Western and Zimbabwean media exposure, respectively (˛s for all cases ≥ .84). Demographics. Participants provided their demographic details consisting of age, ethnicity, height, and weight. The latter two variables were used to calculate participants’ self-reported BMI, which previous work has shown to be highly correlated with measured BMI among samples from developing nations (Lim, Seubsman, & Sleigh, 2009). Procedure Ethical approval to conduct this study was obtained from the relevant university ethics committee. Because English is an official language in Zimbabwe and widely used by Zimbabweans, the survey was presented in English in both settings. Two researchers initially recruited participants from Harare using an opportunistic method of sampling. Potential participants were approached in public spaces and invited to take part in a study on women’s health. Once data collection in Zimbabwe was complete, the same two researchers recruited an age-matched sample of Zimbabwean women in London using a snowball-sampling technique. As before, participants were invited to take part in a study on women’s health. All participants provided informed consent and completed paperand-pencil surveys in which the order of presentation of the scales was counterbalanced. Once the survey was completed, participants were provided with a debrief sheet containing further information about the project. All participants took part on a voluntary basis and were not remunerated for participation.
Results Preliminary Analyses Table 1 presents descriptive statistics and the results of independent samples t-tests between Zimbabwean women in Britain and their counterparts in Zimbabwe for all variables included in this study. As can be seen, preliminary analyses showed that there were no significant between-group differences in participant age and self-reported BMI. There was also no significant between-group difference in the distribution of ethnic groups, 2 (6) = 5.04, p = .539, ϕ = .13. Table 1 also shows that the migrant group reported significantly greater lifetime exposure to Western media and significantly lower lifetime exposure to Zimbabwean media than non-migrant women. Weight Discrepancy As seen in Table 1, Zimbabwean women in Britain had significantly greater weight discrepancy than their peers in Zimbabwe. This difference appeared to be driven by a perception among the migrant group, relative to their non-migrant peers, that they have a significantly larger current body size and would like to have a significantly smaller body size. In addition, the women in Britain believed that men idealized a significantly thinner body than did the women in Zimbabwe. Finally, the migrant group believed that
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Table 1 Descriptive statistics (M and SD) and between-group differences for all key variables included in the present study by group. Item
Group
Difference
Zimbabwe (n = 140)
Actual-ideal weight discrepancy Current body Ideal body Figure that men find most attractive Figure that is typical of women General body appreciation Lifetime exposure to Western media Lifetime exposure to Zimbabwean media Self-reported body mass index Age *
Britain (n = 138)
M
SD
M
SD
1.19 4.54 4.99 5.17 4.71 4.08 4.53 6.53 24.81 25.34
0.93 1.91 1.10 1.07 1.16 0.63 1.42 1.05 4.61 6.87
1.64 5.89 4.39 4.31 5.34 3.41 6.60 4.47 24.88 26.61
0.95 1.95 1.35 1.47 1.23 0.48 4.53 1.65 4.62 6.70
t
d
4.00* 5.84* 4.06* 5.59* 4.41* 10.04* 15.53* 12.40* 0.12 1.56
0.48 0.70 0.49 0.67 0.53 1.21 1.87 1.49 0.01 0.19
Significant at p < .001.
Table 2 Inter-scale correlations between weight discrepancy, body appreciation, exposure to Western media, exposure to Zimbabwean media, self-reported body mass index (BMI) and age (results for Zimbabwean women in Britain are reported in the top diagonal and results for women in Zimbabwe in the bottom diagonal). (1) (1) Weight discrepancy (2) Body appreciation (3) Exposure to Western media (4) Exposure to Zimbabwean media (5) Self-reported BMI (6) Age *
−.21* .24* .06 .01 .10
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
−.20*
.23* −.21*
.08 −.05 .14
.02 −.11 −.04 −.06
.04 .05 −.13 .06 .22*
−.24* −.11 .01 .01
.02 −.13 .03
.09 .22*
.23*
p < .05.
the typical body size for women was significantly larger than did the non-migrant group. Body Appreciation We conducted exploratory factor analyses of the BAS data for the migrant and non-migrant groups separately. For both samples, the significance of Bartlett’s test of sphericity (2 ≥ 404.33, ps < .001) and the Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin measure of sampling adequacy (KMOs ≥ .90) showed that the BAS items had adequate common variance for factor analysis. For both factor analyses, we used a varimax rotation, with the number of factors to be extracted determined by > 1.0 and an extraction criteria of .40. Among the migrant sample, two factors emerged after three iterations ( = 4.17 and 2.80), explaining 32.08% and 21.55% of the variance, respectively. As with Brazilian data (Swami, Campana, et al., 2011), ten of the BAS items loaded onto a General Body Appreciation factor (factor loadings ≥ .43; ˛ = .88) and 3 items (#8, 9, and 12; ˛ = .64) loaded onto a Body Image Investment factor (factor loadings ≥ .53). Among the non-migrant sample, two factors emerged after three iterations ( = 2.95 and 2.42), explaining 26.66% and 18.58% of the variance, respectively. As before, 10 items loaded onto a General Body Appreciation factor (factor loadings ≥ .45; ˛ = .90), but only one item (#9) loaded onto the second factor. Two items (#8 and 12) failed to load onto either factor (factor loadings ≤ .14). Given the problems associated with the second factor, we only calculated an overall score for General Body Appreciation. The non-migrant sample had significantly higher general body appreciation than the migrant sample (see Table 1). Inter-scale Correlations Inter-scale correlations between all variables included in the present study are reported in Table 2. As can be seen, among women in Zimbabwe, weight discrepancy and body appreciation were significantly correlated, and each of these variables was also significantly correlated with exposure to Western media. The same
pattern of results was found for women in Britain, with weight discrepancy and body appreciation being significantly correlated, and each of these variables showing a significant relationship with exposure to Western media. Using Fisher r-to-z transformations, we found no significant between-group differences on any of the correlation coefficients (all zs ≤ 0.26, all ps ≥ .794), suggesting that patterns of association were similar across groups. For women in Britain specifically, further analyses showed that there was no significant correlation between time in the host culture and weight discrepancy and body appreciation, respectively (rs < .14). For this sample, we also examined partial correlations between weight discrepancy, body appreciation, and exposure to Western media, controlling for length of residence in Britain. Results showed that exposure to Western media remained significantly correlated with both weight discrepancy (r = .20, p = .018) and body appreciation (r = −.22, p = .010), once the duration of residency in Britain had been controlled for. Discussion The present results showed that Zimbabwean migrants to Britain had more negative body image than their counterparts in Zimbabwe. These findings are consistent with the suggestion that a change in culture places individuals at greater risk for developing body image and eating disorders (DiNicola, 1990). In terms of weight discrepancy specifically, we found that Zimbabwean migrants in Britain had greater weight discrepancy than their peers in Zimbabwe, which seems to have been driven by the perception that they have larger body sizes (despite no significant betweengroup difference in self-reported BMI) and also seek to adopt a thinner ideal. The latter result in particular is consistent with findings showing that non-Western migrants in Europe conform to the body size ideals of their host culture (Nicolaou et al., 2008; Tovée et al., 2006, 2007), which puts them at risk for body dissatisfaction (Toriola et al., 1996). Our results also showed that the BAS did not reduce factorially to one dimension, as has been found among Western samples (Avalos
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et al., 2005); rather, there was one dominant factor related to general body appreciation, which is consistent with work conducted among other non-Western samples (Swami, Campana, et al., 2011; Swami & Chamorro-Premuzic, 2008). A secondary factor related to body image investment had poor internal consistency among the migrant sample and failed to reduce among the non-migrant sample. When we compared scores on general body appreciation, we found that Zimbabwean women in Zimbabwe had significantly higher scores than their peers in Britain, which is consistent with suggestions that the process of transcultural migration has a detrimental impact on corporeal experiences (DiNicola, 1990). We also found that, among both samples, greater exposure to Western media was associated with greater weight discrepancy and lower body appreciation. The strength of these correlations was small to medium and is consistent with a previous study that reported similar correlation coefficients across cultures (Swami et al., 2010). Finally, we also found that length of residence in Britain among our migrant sample was not associated with body image measures, nor did the former significantly affect the strength of the associations between body image variables and exposure to Western media. These results appear to corroborate a recent study showing no significant associations between body size ideals and degree of acculturation (Nicolaou et al., 2008). The main strength of this study was the use of a consistent methodology to examine body image among a non-Western sample in both its country of origin and host culture. On the other hand, limitations of the present work include the reliance on nonrepresentative samples of women in both contexts, which limits the generalizability of our findings. In addition, although English is widely understood and used in Zimbabwe, presentation of the survey in Shona or IsiNdebele may have improved understanding. We also did not measure participants’ social status and, as such, we cannot discount the possibility that our findings were an artifact of group differences in social status. Finally, future research would do well to conduct a more thorough evaluation of the metric invariance of key measures, which would enhance the ability to make comparisons across cultures. These limitations aside, our results suggest that public health promotion efforts may need to target migrant populations from non-Western cultures. References Anderson-Fye, E., & Becker, A. E. (2004). Socio-cultural aspects of eating disorders. In J. K. Thompson (Ed.), Handbook of eating disorders and obesity (pp. 565–589). New York, NY: Wiley. Avalos, L., Tylka, T. L., & Wood-Barcalow, N. (2005). The Body Appreciation Scale: Development and psychometric evaluation. Body Image, 2, 285–297.
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