Interrelationship Of Female Competitive Athletic Participation Sex Role Self Concept And Self Esteem

Author : Jayne M. McLaughlin
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 158 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (53 download)

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Download or read book Body Image, Self-concepts and Self-esteem in Male and Female Adolescent Cross-country Runners written by Jayne M. McLaughlin and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 158 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This study was undertaken to assess body image and self-concepts in male and female adolescent cross-country runners. Runners were chosen as the study population because cross-country is a lean sport whereby the size of the body can impact performance. Participants were 175 high school runners including 93 boys (mean age 16 ±1.3 years; body mass index 20.4 ± 1.9) and 82 girls (mean age 15.7 ± 1.3 years; body mass index 20.3 ± 1.9). Participants completed a questionnaire packet comprised of a demographic questionnaire (including self-report of height and weight), the Body-Selflmage Questionnaire (BSIQ) to assess body image in nine different factors, and the Self- Perception Profile for Adolescents (SPPA) to assess self-concept in eight domains, plus global self-worth (self-esteem). The results showed that females were significantly less satisfied with a number of body image factors than males. Females also scored significantly less than males in the self-concept domains of athletic competence and physical appearance. Males and females rated different self-concept domains as the most important to them: Females valued close friendships as most important, while males valued job competence as nost important. Physical appearance and athletic competence were ranked relatively lower for both genders. On the other hand, the relationship of self- esteem to appearance-related factors or domains was stronger for females than for males; the females' self esteem was most closely related to physical appearance of all the eight domains. This correlation was significant for both sexes. The physical appearance domain ofthe SPPA correlated with the overall appearance factor ofthe BSIQ, with the association being stronger for females than for males. The females demonstrated more negative discrepancies than boys in many self-concept domains, suggesting that they were failing at aspects that were important in their lives. In spite of the sex differences, absolute scores obtained on the two instruments demonstrated favorable psychological profiles, not indicative of severe body image problems or eating disorders. However, these results question the different motives of the cross-country runners since athletic competence and physical appearance were ranked relatively low. These runners may not have been representative of serious distance runners. Implications from this study include that the gender differences between males and females, particularly with respect to appearance, need to be handled sensitively by coaches. Furthermore, the discrepancies in the female runners' self-concepts were present yet the females' competencies in the self- concepts were fairly high. This suggests that the girls in the study demonstrated perfectionist-like qualities in having high expectations in all aspects of their lives. Future research should address this notion further, since perfectionism has been recognized as a risk factor for eating disorders"--Document.