Body build stereotypes and self-identification in three age groups of females

Body build stereotypes of three age groups (6, 15, and 19 years old) of average weight and "heavy" female students were studied. First, the students were asked to circle one adjective from each of 28 antonym pairs, which was "most like" themselves. Concurrently, side-view figures of a female endormorph, an ectomorph, and a mesomorph were shown to each student. The figures were of the approximate age of the student. She was asked to point to one of the figures which "best fit" the adjectives in each of the 18 antonym pairs as they were read aloud. Lastly, each student was asked to choose one of the figures which "most looked" like themselves and the one which they would most want to "look like". Thus, discrepancies could be detected between one's self description and one's description of others with a very similar physique. The hypothesis that females would have similar physique preferences and aversions as those of males in a previous study (3) was confirmed. Females preferred the mesomorph figure (p less than .001) and at least favored the endomorph figure (p less than .001). The ectomorph figure was viewed less negatively than the endomorph figure (p less than .01). The youngest group showed more preference towards the endomorph and ectomorph figures then did the two older groups. "Heavy" physique students rejected the behavioral stereotypes descriptive of themselves even though they earlier had associated the very same stereotypes to the physique most like their own.