Level of Physical Activity on the Body Image of Young Women

Abstract

Physical exercise has the ability to alter the measurements of the body related to esthetic. The objective of the present study was to compare the body image and body esthetic between two groups of women with different levels of physical activity. We evaluated 79 women who were divided into 2 groups: 39 women with low or moderate levels of physical activity, and 40 women with high levels of physical activity according to the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ). Anthropometric and body composition measurements were taken using the InBody S10 multifrequency device (InBody Co., Eonju-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea). The scale of silhouettes, which is composed of 9 engravings of body images, was used to verify the body image, as well as the Portuguese version of the Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ) validated for university students. The group of evaluators was composed of twenty physical education professionals of both sexes, ten male and ten female. The group with low/moderate levels of physical activity, as expected, showed a lower amount (minutes per week) of physical activity of mild, moderate and vigorous intensity when compared with the group with high levels of physical activity (p < 0.05), and they also had a higher ratio of fat mass (FM) per height squared (p = 0.047). The BSQ questionnaire scores, the current and ideal silhouettes, as well as body image dissatisfaction, were not different between the groups (p > 0.05). The overall body esthetic score, attributed only by the male and only by the female evaluators, did not differ significantly (p > 0.05). We concluded that the level of physical activity did not influence the body image and body esthetic of the women.

Keywords

body composition - body esthetic - esthetic score

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