Relationship between exercise motivations, self-esteem, eating attitudes and body image satisfaction among undergraduate students
Year: 2012
Type: report
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: The present study aimed to investigate the associations between motivations for exercise, \ngender, self-esteem, body satisfaction and eating attitudes. Participants consisted of 100 Dublin \nBusiness School undergraduates (45 male, 55 female) ranging in age from 18 – 28 (M=21.39; \nSD=2.069). Data consisted of participants scores for The Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26) (Garner et \nal., 1982),The Figure Rating Scale (FRS) (Stunkard et al., 1983), The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale \n(RSES) (Rosenberg, 1965) and The Exercise Motivations Inventory – 2 (EMI-2) (Markland & \nIngledew, 1997). Females were found to have a higher sense of self-esteem than their male \ncounterparts in this sample. A significant gender effect was observed regarding body satisfaction as \nmales were found to be content with their body image while females were found to want to be \nthinner. Females were found to be motivated to exercise significantly more than males for \nappearance related reasons which was negatively correlated with body image satisfaction. \nDisordered eating attitudes were significantly positively correlated for being motivated to exercise \nfor appearance related reasons. Body image satisfaction was significantly positively correlated with \nself-esteem. Results were discussed in relation to methodological weaknesses e.g., self-report \nmeasures, strengths, e.g., use of visual stimuli to report body image, and practical implications, e.g., \nraising awareness of healthy attitudes towards food and exercise behaviours in a university sample. Author keywords: Exercise motivations, self-esteem, eating disorders, college sample
Source: eSource (Dublin Business School)
Author: Geraldine Ennis
Language: English
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1480413969