Sex roles and body image

The hypothesis that women scoring as Sex-typed have less favorable body image than women scoring as Androgynous or Cross-sexed was tested using the Personal Attributes Questionnaire of Spence and Helmreich and the Body Esteem Scale of Franzoi and Shields. These were completed by 121 Euro-American female undergraduates in psychology. Analysis indicated that women classified as Sex-typed and Undifferentiated scored significantly lower than women classified as Androgynous and Cross-sexed on Sexual Attractiveness, Weight Concern, and Physical Condition subscales of the Body Esteem Scale, and the two groups had a significantly different mean profile. In addition, the Sex-typed group had a significantly different mean profile based on the three body-image subscales from that of women scoring as Androgynous but not those classed as Cross-sexed. As expected, there were no differences on body image between women classed as Sex-typed and Undifferentiated.