Me. Finkenberg et al., BODY ESTEEM AND ENROLLMENT IN CLASSES WITH DIFFERENT LEVELS OF PHYSICAL-ACTIVITY, Perceptual and motor skills, 76(3), 1993, pp. 783-792
Differences in self-reported scores in the Body Esteem Scale were reco
rded for college women and men who participated in classes requiring d
iffering amounts of physical activity. Scores for 116 women and 38 men
were compared to scores for 99 college women and 60 college men enrol
led in classes requiring vigorous or little physical activity, respect
ively. The correlation between participation and body esteem was also
examined. The Body Esteem Scale was given to the subjects during the f
irst and last weeks of one semester. Multivariate analysis of variance
of scores indicated significant differences initially among the two g
roups of women on three subscales, Sexual Attractiveness, Weight Contr
ol, and Physical Condition, while mean over-all scores for body esteem
were higher for women in the vigorous activity group than in the comp
arison group. No significant differences were found at the later testi
ng. For men, no significant differences were obtained at either testin
g.