Body image: Gender, ethnic, and age differences

Using figure drawings (E. Fallen & P. Rozin, 1985), 120 male and female U.S . college students-African American, Hispanic, and Caucasian-indicated thei r current and ideal figures, the figures that they considered most attracti ve to the opposite sex, and the opposite-sex figures most attractive to the mselves. Dissatisfaction with body shape was greater among the women regard less of ethnicity. Both the men and the women misjudged which shapes the op posite sex would rate as most attractive: The women guessed that the men pr eferred shapes thinner than those that they actually reported. The African American women had the most accurate perceptions of what the men found attr active, whereas the Caucasian women had the most distorted views. The men g uessed that the women preferred shapes bulkier than those that they actuall y indicated. These findings may be relevant to the lower incidence of eatin g disorders among African American women and the higher incidence of such d isorders among Caucasian women.