scholarly journals Understanding body image in physical education

2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 255-265 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlotte Kerner ◽  
Leen Haerens ◽  
David Kirk

Body image disturbance in children and adolescents has negative implications for psychological and physical well-being. To positively impact well-being, it is important to explore factors that influence body image and to identify strategies that can be used to reduce body image disturbance. The school curriculum can play a significant role in shaping how children and adolescents experience their bodies. Within this school curriculum, physical education lessons represent one of the only school subjects in which the body is a focus of curricular outcomes. In physical education, the body is judged for physical ability but is also situated in a space that provides the potential for social comparisons and body judgements. Significant attention has been paid to the development of classroom-based interventions that aim at reducing body image disturbance, yet physical education has largely been ignored as a context in which one can effectively intervene. This paper reviews current knowledge on the relationship between physical education and body image disturbance by using the cognitive-behavioural model of body image developments as a guiding framework. It also considers the contribution that physical education could make to wider school-based interventions.

2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 1002-1016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin Haegele ◽  
Xihe Zhu

The purpose of this study was to examine reflections of body image development experiences in school-based physical education and sport among individuals with visual impairments. This qualitative study utilized an interpretative phenomenological analysis. A purposive sample of 10 participants (ages 21–34; eight female, two male) residing in North America were included. Semi-structured, audiotaped telephone interviews and reflective interview notes were data sources for this study. Data were analysed using a three-step process inspired by interpretative phenomenological analysis, and themes that were identified across participants were summarized, presented as results, and discussed concurrently. Based on the data, two interrelated themes were constructed: (a) ‘overweight and never really got proper exercise’: repercussions of exclusion, and (b) ‘the way I looked was very important’: social pressures informing body image. These themes expand the current literature by describing the influences school-based physical education and sport contexts can have on the body image development experiences of individuals with visual impairments. Exclusion from activities and peer social comparisons are highlighted as critical features of physical education and sport experiences that can affect body image among this population.


Author(s):  
Sunandar Macpal ◽  
Fathianabilla Azhar

The aims of this paper is to explain the use of high heels as an agency for a woman's body. Agency context refers to pain in the body but pain is perceived as something positive. In this paper, the method used is a literature review by reviewing writings related to the use of high heels. The findings in this paper that women experience body image disturbance or anxiety because they feel themselves are not beautiful or not attractive. The use of high heels, makes women more attractive and more confident, on the other hand the use of high heels actually makes women feel pain and discomfort. However, for the achievement of beauty standards, women voluntarily allow their bodies to experience pain. However, the agency's willingness to beauty standards here is meaningless without filtering and directly accepted. Instead women keep negotiating with themselves so as to make a decision why use high heels.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1356336X2110562
Author(s):  
Gustavo González-Calvo ◽  
Vanesa Gallego-Lema ◽  
Göran Gerdin ◽  
Daniel Bores-García

Visual culture affects the way people understand the world and themselves, contributing to the creation of certain roles and stereotypes, some of which are related to body image. This study focused on interrogating future physical education teachers’ beliefs about the body and physical activity to understand the construction of bodily subjectivities and their perceptions of how these are influenced by visual (physical) culture. Data were collected through the use of visual methods consisting of photo-elicitation and individual interviews with 23 students from a Primary Education Degree with a specialization in physical education at a Spanish university. Data were analyzed using thematic content analysis. The results of the study show that these future physical education teachers are aware of both the great influence of gender stereotypes and the values of consumerism in the field of physical activity stemming largely from the media, which inevitably will shape their future professional practice. However, the results also highlight how these future physical education teachers consider and position the subject of physical education as an important space where they could help students problematize and challenge these beliefs. We suggest that a focus on visual (physical) literacy is needed for future physical education teachers (and their students) to understand the world from a socially critical perspective and transform it in the interest of equity and social justice.


2010 ◽  
Vol 41 (8) ◽  
pp. 1651-1663 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Vocks ◽  
D. Schulte ◽  
M. Busch ◽  
D. Grönemeyer ◽  
S. Herpertz ◽  
...  

BackgroundPrevious neuroimaging studies have demonstrated abnormalities in visual body image processing in anorexia and bulimia nervosa, possibly underlying body image disturbance in these disorders. Although cognitive behavioural interventions have been shown to be successful in improving body image disturbance in eating disorders, no randomized controlled study has yet analysed treatment-induced changes in neuronal correlates of visual body image processing.MethodAltogether, 32 females with eating disorders were randomly assigned either to a manualized cognitive behavioural body image therapy consisting of 10 group sessions, or to a waiting list control condition. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, brain responses to viewing photographs of one's own and another female's body taken from 16 standardized perspectives while participants were wearing a uniform bikini were acquired before and after the intervention and the waiting time, respectively.ResultsData indicate a general blood oxygen level dependent signal enhancement in response to looking at photographs of one's own body from pre- to post-treatment, whereas exclusively in the control group activation decreases from pre- to post-waiting time were observed. Focused activation increases from pre- to post-treatment were found in the left middle temporal gyrus covering the coordinates of the extrastriate body area and in bilateral frontal structures including the middle frontal gyrus.ConclusionsResults point to a more intense neuronal processing of one's own body after the cognitive behavioural body image therapy in cortical regions that are responsible for the visual processing of the human body and for self-awareness.


Author(s):  
Míriam Rocher ◽  
Bruno Silva ◽  
Gonçalo Cruz ◽  
Renato Bentes ◽  
Josep Lloret ◽  
...  

Participating in outdoor sports in blue spaces is recognized to produce a range of significant social benefits. This case study empirically analyzes the social benefits associated with the School Nautical Activities project carried out in Viana do Castelo (Portugal) in school-age children and adolescents. It consisted of a 4 year program in which scholars took part in nautical activities (surfing, rowing, sailing, and canoeing) in blue spaces once a week during a semester as a part of their physical education course. The methods used for data collection were as follows: (1) a survey answered by 595 participants in the program and (2) five focus groups (FG): two FGs with participants (seven on each FG), two FGs with their parents (eight participants each), and one FG with the physical education teachers (five participants). Interviews were transcribed and qualitative analysis with NVivo software was developed. Results revealed clear evidence on the social benefits for school-age children and adolescents associated with participation in outdoor activities in blue spaces both in the overall health and in all the following analyzed categories: mental health and well-being, education, active citizenship, social behavior, and environmental awareness. More than 40% state that their overall health is much better now (13.4%) or somewhat better now (29.9%) due to their participation in the program. Thus, this article provides support for the anecdotal recognition of the benefits for school-age children and adolescents from participating in sports in the outdoors and especially in blue spaces.


2014 ◽  
Vol 24 (59) ◽  
pp. 295-303 ◽  
Author(s):  
Solange Fonseca ◽  
Leonor Lencastre ◽  
Marina Guerra

It is well known that breast cancer carries many psychosocial consequences. For a deeper understanding of this topic, this study aims to analyze the relationship between life satisfaction, meaning in life, optimism, body image and depression in 55 women with breast cancer, organized into two groups: mastectomized and submitted to conservative surgery. The variables were characterized based on the results from the Auto-Actualização-SentidoVida [Self-Actualization-Life Meaning] sub-scale, the Escala de Otimismo [Optimism scale], the Body Image Scale, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and the Escala de Satisfação com a Vida [Life satisfaction scale]. Meaning in life and optimism were positively correlated with life satisfaction. Higher depression and body image disturbance appeared associated with lower life satisfaction. Body image disturbance was higher in mastectomized women. It was concluded that women submitted to conservative surgery do not have more life satisfaction than mastectomized women, requiring equal attention in terms of preventing depression and promoting positive variables.


1954 ◽  
Vol 100 (421) ◽  
pp. 961-964 ◽  
Author(s):  
John B. Stanton

Certain specific disabilities following lesions of the dominant hemisphere particularly those involving the parietal region, have been recognized for many years. The syndrome of dyscalculia, dysgraphia, right-left disorientation and finger agnosia is usually known as Gerstmann's syndrome, following that author's descriptions in 1924 and 1940. It has been suggested that of these four main components of the syndrome, finger agnosia might be the fundamental disturbance, bringing the others in its train. Thus, as a result of the postulated importance of the digits for numeration, acalculia would naturally follow. Dysgraphia would result from the loss of the “schema” for the fingers—a part of the body-image—and right-left disorientation might be a consequence of the same body-image disturbance—a “hand” agnosia.


Author(s):  
Marc Sim ◽  
Brian Dawson ◽  
Grant Landers ◽  
Debbie Trinder ◽  
Peter Peeling

The trace element iron plays a number of crucial physiological roles within the body. Despite its importance, iron deficiency remains a common problem among athletes. As an individual’s iron stores become depleted, it can affect their well-being and athletic capacity. Recently, altered iron metabolism in athletes has been attributed to postexercise increases in the iron regulatory hormone hepcidin, which has been reported to be upregulated by exercise-induced increases in the inflammatory cytokine interleukin-6. As such, when hepcidin levels are elevated, iron absorption and recycling may be compromised. To date, however, most studies have explored the acute postexercise hepcidin response, with limited research seeking to minimize/attenuate these increases. This review summarizes the current knowledge regarding the postexercise hepcidin response under a variety of exercise scenarios and highlights potential areas for future research—such as: a) the use of hormones though the female oral contraceptive pill to manipulate the postexercise hepcidin response, b) comparing the use of different exercise modes (e.g., cycling vs. running) on hepcidin regulation.


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