Study on factors of body image in Japanese and Vietnamese adolescents

Over-concern about thinness, especially among young girls including adolescents, is common in Japan. Behind the problem, there is a complicated social phenomenon and an effective strategy is not known yet. In this study, we tried to find a clue by comparing body image between two countries which have different social backgrounds. Subjects were Japanese and Vietnamese junior high school students from 12 to 15 y old. Three schools each and 1-2 classes from each grade were randomly selected to involve 374 (boys 196, girls 178) and 714 (boys 352, girls 362), respectively, in Japan and Vietnam. Height and weight of subjects were measured and their satisfaction about their body shape and experience with dieting were asked by a questionnaire. Questions about their body image concerning their desire, liking of the opposite sex, own liking and health were answered by marking silhouettes. About 60% of Japanese thought that obese (silhouette 9) is unhealthy, while about 85% of Vietnamese thought that thinness (silhouette 1) is unhealthy. Most of the Japanese girls overestimated their body weight and were dissatisfied with their body shape and 78.3% wanted to lose weight. About 30% of them experienced weight loss including 2.8% of the low BMI students. Vietnamese girls also had similar tendencies in their desire about their body image as the Japanese but they were less serious. The girls in both countries preferred the thinner body image to the healthy body image and thought that boys liked the thinner body image. Japanese boys were mostly satisfied with their body shape; however, about half (46%) of the Vietnamese boys wanted a bigger and more muscular body image. In conclusion, the biggest problem with body image was the over-concern about thinness of the Japanese girls, which was based on their own misconception. Therefore, as the strategy to correct their body image, education about good health and also information about the boys' favorite body image are recommended.