Correlational and Network Perspectives About the Relationship Between Body Image and Personality in Brazilian Undergraduate Students

Abstract

This study examined the relationships between body image, personality, sex, body mass index, use of social networks, and income in undergraduate students. An online data collection was carried out with 398 students who answered a data questionnaire, the Situational Body Satisfaction Scale, and the Big Five Inventory-2. Correlational analyses indicated that Neuroticism was the most associated factor with body dissatisfaction. For the other personality factors, there were associations with body image and most of the dimensions of the Situational Scale, except for Agreeableness, which showed no relationship with body image. There were positive relationships between body image and lower body mass index, higher income, and lower use of social networks. In the network model, there were differences in the degree of association between the variables for men and women. The study points out clinically important variables for interventions with young people with body image distortion.

Keywords: Assessment; Body dissatisfaction; Personality; Young adult.

Fig. 1

Network of relationships for females (left) and males (right). Notes: (1) Income. Red cluster represents personality dimensions: (2) Agreeableness; (3) Conscientiousness; (4) openness; (5) Neuroticism; (6) Extroversion. Blue cluster represents dimensions of satisfaction with body image: (7) Satisfaction with body fat; (8) Satisfaction with external body parts; (9) Satisfaction with muscle; (10) Satisfaction with lower body parts. (11) Body mass index. Pink cluster represents frequency of social media use: (12) Weekday social media usage hours; (13) Weekend social media usage hours