- 1,186 women aged 18-80 from six countries were surveyed on body confidence
- Black Nigerian women top the list with the highest body appreciation
The world’s most and least body confident women have been revealed in a new study led by researchers from Durham University.
Black Nigerian women top the list with the highest body appreciation.
At the other end of the scale, white Western women are the least happy with their figures, according to the study.
‘We found that body appreciation was relatively stable across all ages and sociocultural pressure was evident in all cultures,’ said Louise Hanson, who led the study.
‘However, the extent to which this pressure was experienced and where it came from differed across cultures.’
The world’s most and least body confident women have been revealed in a new study led by researchers from Durham University (stock image)
Body image is a complex phenomenon that affects women and men worldwide.
However, until now, most research has focused on young, white, Western women.
In their new study, the team set out to understand how body appreciation varies between women from different cultures.
‘Most research around body appreciation to date has focused on younger white western women,’ Ms Hanson said.
‘We wanted to expand the scope and include older women and other cultures as these groups have historically been ignored.’
A total of 1,186 women aged 18-80 were enlisted from six countries – four Western countries (Australia, Canada, the UK, and the US), as well as China and Nigeria.
The women were surveyed on their own sense of body appreciation, as well as the pressures they experience around body image from family, peers, and the media.
The results revealed that all three groups had relatively stable body appreciation across ages.
However, there were significant cultural differences.
White Western women were found to experience much higher pressure from the media to conform to thin or athletic body ideals.
White Western women are the least happy with their figures, according to the study (stock image)
While this pressure decreased with age, even at its lowest, the pressure felt by Western women was still higher than for the other ethnic groups.
In contrast, Black Nigerian women recorded the highest body appreciation, as well as far less media pressure regarding body image.
Meanwhile, Chinese women reported the highest ongoing pressure from their family and peers around body image, while media-related pressure was less.
The researchers hope the findings will spark further research into body appreciation across cultures.
‘Based on our results, we suggest that when developing interventions to increase body appreciation, experts should take all age groups into account, not just younger women,’ Ms Hanson added.
‘Additionally, there is also a need for interventions to be tailored to account for cultural differences, such as greater media literacy for white western women who reported the highest pressure in this area.’
