Abstract

This study was carried out to investigate perceptions of body image, body satisfaction, and dietary habits of beauty art major and non-major college students in Gyeonggi province. A total of 312 self-administered questionnaires (beauty art majors=145; non-majors=167) were analyzed. The means for height, weight, and BMI were 161.7 cm, 51.4 kg and 19.7, respectively. There were more majors who were underweight according to BMI classification than non-majors. Sixty-six percent of the subjects had previous weight control experience, and there was no significant difference between the majors and non-majors. The mean score for current body image was 4.61 out of a possible 9 points in the majors, which was significantly lower than 4.95 in the non-majors, and their perception of an ideal body image was thinner than their current body image. Those with more weight control experience had currently heavier perceptions of their body. The mean score for body satisfaction was 2.60 out of a possible 5 points, which was lower than the mean score for their attitudes toward the importance of their bodies. The mean score for dietary habits was 2.80 out of a possible 5 points, and there was no significant difference with dietary habits according to weight control experience or BMI classification. In both the majors and non-majors, there was a significant positive correlation between BMI and perception of current body image (p<0.001, p<0.001), and a negative correlation between BMI and body satisfaction (p<0.01, p<0.001). In the major students, there were significant positive correlations between dietary habits and body satisfaction (p<0.01), and attitudes toward the body importance (p<0.05); therefore, the greater their body satisfaction and body importance, the higher their scores for dietary habits.

Keywords

• Perception of body image;
• body satisfaction;
• dietary habits;
• college students