Body Image in Women during Midlife

The present paper deals with the body image formed in women during the period of middle adulthood, or midlife. The research featured Russian-speaking women, who demonstrated a global trend in that they expressed mainly negative ideas about their body and a standard dissatisfaction with their appeara...

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Main Author: Ksenia N. Belogai
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Kemerovo State University 2019-07-01
Series:Вестник Кемеровского государственного университета
Subjects:
Online Access:https://vestnik.kemsu.ru/jour/article/view/2706
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author Ksenia N. Belogai
author_facet Ksenia N. Belogai
author_sort Ksenia N. Belogai
collection DOAJ
description The present paper deals with the body image formed in women during the period of middle adulthood, or midlife. The research featured Russian-speaking women, who demonstrated a global trend in that they expressed mainly negative ideas about their body and a standard dissatisfaction with their appearance. The women were concerned with their body weight, shape, and functional characteristics. In middle adulthood, body image is determined, to a large extent, by the exclusively female bodily experience, i.e. menstruation, pregnancy, childbirth, and breastfeeding. For instance, women with a positive attitude towards their own body were less likely to have abortions or miscarriages, complications during pregnancy and childbirth. In addition, they expressed more pronounced positive feelings associated with the movement of the fetus in the womb. In general, positive body image was found to form in those pregnant women who moved on from evaluating their appearance to evaluating the functionality of their body. The data also showed that the body image in women aged 25–40 depended on the body mass index: women with a lower body mass index had a more positive body image.
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spelling doaj.art-466b5247589a4accb576924af026808c2023-07-13T12:08:38ZengKemerovo State UniversityВестник Кемеровского государственного университета2078-89752078-89832019-07-0121237538310.21603/2078-8975-2019-21-2-375-3832310Body Image in Women during MidlifeKsenia N. Belogai0Kemerovo State UniversityThe present paper deals with the body image formed in women during the period of middle adulthood, or midlife. The research featured Russian-speaking women, who demonstrated a global trend in that they expressed mainly negative ideas about their body and a standard dissatisfaction with their appearance. The women were concerned with their body weight, shape, and functional characteristics. In middle adulthood, body image is determined, to a large extent, by the exclusively female bodily experience, i.e. menstruation, pregnancy, childbirth, and breastfeeding. For instance, women with a positive attitude towards their own body were less likely to have abortions or miscarriages, complications during pregnancy and childbirth. In addition, they expressed more pronounced positive feelings associated with the movement of the fetus in the womb. In general, positive body image was found to form in those pregnant women who moved on from evaluating their appearance to evaluating the functionality of their body. The data also showed that the body image in women aged 25–40 depended on the body mass index: women with a lower body mass index had a more positive body image.https://vestnik.kemsu.ru/jour/article/view/2706periods of adulthoodpositive body imagetypes of body imageacceptance of the bodybody mass indexverbal commentary on physical appearance scalethe 34-item body shape questionnaire
spellingShingle Ksenia N. Belogai
Body Image in Women during Midlife
Вестник Кемеровского государственного университета
periods of adulthood
positive body image
types of body image
acceptance of the body
body mass index
verbal commentary on physical appearance scale
the 34-item body shape questionnaire
title Body Image in Women during Midlife
title_full Body Image in Women during Midlife
title_fullStr Body Image in Women during Midlife
title_full_unstemmed Body Image in Women during Midlife
title_short Body Image in Women during Midlife
title_sort body image in women during midlife
topic periods of adulthood
positive body image
types of body image
acceptance of the body
body mass index
verbal commentary on physical appearance scale
the 34-item body shape questionnaire
url https://vestnik.kemsu.ru/jour/article/view/2706
work_keys_str_mv AT ksenianbelogai bodyimageinwomenduringmidlife