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Body image in the old order Amish: a people separate from "the world"
P Platte1, J F Zelten, A J Stunkard
1Center of Psychobiology and Psychosomatic Research, University of Trier, Trier, Germany.
Objective:
Body image measures were assessed among the Old Order Amish, a Protestant religious community living separate from Western industrialized society.
Method:
One hundred six Old Order Amish men (n = 50) and women (n = 56), aged 14-67 years, were studied by two measures of body image: (1) body dissatisfaction as assessed by the difference between subjects' body mass index (BMI, kg/m(2)) and the BMI that they chose as their ideal and (2) the relative accuracy of perception of body size assessed by comparing subjects' choice of body size on a Figure Rating Scale with the choice of a relative.
Results:
Young persons and persons of normal weight of both genders showed no body dissatisfaction or inaccuracy in their perception of their body size. Older persons of both genders, on the other hand, manifested body dissatisfaction (actual BMI greater than ideal BMI). Older women also overestimated their body size. Obese persons of both genders manifested body dissatisfaction (actual BMI greater than ideal BMI) and obese men overestimated their body size.
Discussion:
Young Amish people do not show the body image problems characteristic of young persons in Western industrial society. Their elders and obese persons may have some such problems. 2000 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.