SYMBOLIZATION OF BODY IMAGE AS A FACTOR IN SATISFACTION WITH APPEARANCE IN WOMEN

Abstract

Relevance of the study. We understand the symbolization of body image as a psychological and sociocultural process of endowing the human body and/or its individual parts, functions, states with a deep symbolic meaning, becoming a reflection of the inner world of a person, his emotions, traumas, sociocultural experience or spiritual searches. The study of the role of symbolization of body image on satisfaction with appearance turned out to be insufficient.

The Aim of the study is to study the typology of symbolization of body image and identify its role in satisfaction with the appearance of women of different ages, with different body mass index, degree of involvement in physical activity, surgical and other interventions related to the transformation of the appearance of the face and body.

Results. According to the results of the empirical analysis of the symbolization of body image in women, four types were identified: 1) “Public symbolization of body image”, 2) “Consumer symbolization of body image”, 3) “Salutogenic-public symbolization of body image”, 4) “Valeo-symbolization of body image”, 5) “Valeo-hedonic symbolization of body image”.

Women of the age periods of early maturity and late adulthood, as well as women practicing facebuilding, of the type “Valeo-hedonic symbolization of body image” have the highest indicators of satisfaction with appearance and body, the lowest indicators of situational dissatisfaction with body.

“Consumer symbolization of body image” in underweight women predicts an increase in indicators of reflected attitude to appearance.

In the case of “Public Symbolization of Body Image”, women with normal weight showed higher levels of satisfaction with appearance, while deviation from the norm of weight was associated with a decrease in satisfaction with appearance. In contrast, in the same type of women in early adulthood, more dissatisfaction with the body was determined, and in women who had experience of surgical interventions on the body in the case of “Public Symbolization of Body Image”, the indicators of perception of the body as an appropriate status were lower compared to those women who did not have such practice.

With a decrease in body mass index, women of the types “Public Symbolization of Body Image” in early adulthood and “Salutogenic-Public Symbolization of Body Image” in adolescence (i.e., in younger girls), the indicators of situational dissatisfaction with the body were higher.