Perceptions of Female Body Size and Shape in China, Hong Kong, and the United Kingdom

Photographs of 50 women were rated for attractiveness, health, and fertility recorded by four sets of participants—Rural-Chinese (n = 50), Chinese participants in Hong Kong (n = 50), Chinese participants living in the United Kingdom (n = 50), and participants self-identifying as “Caucasian” living i...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Cross-cultural research 2014-02, Vol.48 (1), p.78-103
Main Authors: Mo, Josephine J. Y., Cheung, Kate W. K., Gledhill, Lucinda J., Pollet, Thomas V., Boothroyd, Lynda G., Tovée, Martin J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Asian Cultural Groups
Attractiveness
Body image
Body mass index
China
Cultural differences
Cultural environment
Females
Fertility
Health
Hong Kong
Human Body
Judgement
Peoples Republic of China
Perception
Perceptions
Personal appearance
Photograph collections
Size
Social sciences
Studies
United Kingdom
White people
Women
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Summary:Photographs of 50 women were rated for attractiveness, health, and fertility recorded by four sets of participants—Rural-Chinese (n = 50), Chinese participants in Hong Kong (n = 50), Chinese participants living in the United Kingdom (n = 50), and participants self-identifying as “Caucasian” living in the United Kingdom. The results suggest that a polynomial function of Body Mass Index (kg/m2) is the best predictor of all three judgments in all four observer groups. In contrast, shape cues, such as the waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), seem to play a relatively small role. Shape cues do consistently account for a greater proportion of the variance in all three Chinese groups than for the Caucasian participants, implying a greater role for shape in the Chinese participants’ judgments. This result may reflect the competing pressures between the healthy range for shape and body mass in the Chinese populations versus the role of visual diet in influencing body preferences in different cultural environments.
ISSN:1069-3971
1552-3578
DOI:10.1177/1069397113510272