Body Image Satisfaction as a Psychological Reaction to Age-Related Developmental Changes Among Middle-Aged Women in Saudi Arabia

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6463-248-4_5How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Body Image Satisfaction; Nursing; Perceived Stress; Middle-Aged Women

Abstract

Middle-aged women (40–65 years old) experience several bio-psych-social changes that may impact how they feel about themselves. The desire to achieve the perfect body image may make women go through several physical and psychological problems, such as experiencing an eating disorder, having low self-esteem, and low self-confidence. This study aims to investigate body image satisfaction as a psychological reaction to age-related developmental changes among middle-aged women in Saudi Arabia. Descriptive design was used to collect responses from Saudi Arabian women between September and February 2021 using a self-report questionnaire. It consisted of the demographics section, Stunkard Figure Rating Scale, and Perceived Stress Scale. Data collection was conducted online through social media platforms. One hundred and eighteen middle-aged women completed the survey. Most participants were dissatisfied with their body image and reported moderate levels of perceived stress. The paired-sample t-test indicated that middle-aged women were more likely to have a perceived body image that was thinner than their actual body image (t = 13.581, p ≤ 0.0001). Years of education (r = −0.22, p-value = .02), having a chronic disease (r = 0.24, p-value = .01), and body image satisfaction (r = −0.26, p-value = .005) were significantly correlated with perceived stress. Age, years of education, and perceived stress were significantly impacting body image satisfaction. The increase in age (Risk = .473), educational level (Risk = .51), and perceived stress level (Risk = .59) decrease the likelihood of body image satisfaction. Developmental changes make it essential for nurses to develop comprehensive preventive programs that consider all biopsychosocial changes that middle-aged women undergo.

Copyright

© 2024 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Rnda I. Ashgar
PY  - 2023
DA  - 2023/10/03
TI  - Body Image Satisfaction as a Psychological Reaction to Age-Related Developmental Changes Among Middle-Aged Women in Saudi Arabia
BT  - Proceedings of the Second International Nursing Conference "Nursing Profession in the Current Era" (INC 2023)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 35
EP  - 45
SN  - 2468-5739
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-248-4_5
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6463-248-4_5
ID  - Ashgar2023
ER  -