Body Image Satisfaction and Body Composition Across Somatotype Categories Among School - Going Girls: A Cross - Sectional Study

Abstract

Background: Body image encompasses the intricate perception of an individual's own physical appearance, while somatotype provides a framework for describing body shape through anthropometric measurements. Assessing whether objectively measured body-composition traits correlate with body-image satisfaction is crucial for adolescent health and physical education.

Objective: This research explored body-image satisfaction and specific body-composition traits in school-going girls classified as endomorphic, mesomorphic, and ectomorphic. It further analyzed whether body-image satisfaction varied across these somatotype categories and its association with selected anthropometric variables.

Methods: Forty-five girls from three public schools in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala were included in the final analysis, with 15 participants in each somatotype group. Somatotype classification was based on the Heath-Carter approach. Body weight, height, fat percentage, body mass index (BMI), lean body mass (LBM), body-fat weight (BFW), and height-weight ratio (HWR) were considered. Body-image satisfaction was assessed using the 19-item Body-Image Questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, an overall one-way ANOVA, pairwise independent-group t tests, effect sizes, and within-group Pearson correlations were considered.

Results: Mean body-satisfaction scores were 73.67 ± 13.08 for endomorphs, 80.67 ± 6.92 for mesomorphs, and 75.53 ± 9.80 for ectomorphs. The overall one-way ANOVA did not show a statistically significant difference among the three groups, F(2,42) = 1.88, p = .166, η² = .082. Pairwise differences were also non-significant: endomorphs versus mesomorphs, t(28) = 1.832, p = .078, d = 0.67; ectomorphs versus mesomorphs, t(28) = 1.656, p = .109, d = 0.61; and endomorphs versus ectomorphs, t(28) = 0.442, p = .662, d = 0.16. None of the reported within-group correlations exceeded the critical value of r = .497 at the .05 level.

Conclusion: Mesomorphs had the highest mean body satisfaction score and the group comparisons showed moderate standardized effects for the mesomorph - endomorph and mesomorph - ectomorph contrasts, but statistical significance was not demonstrated in this small sample. The findings suggest that somatotype related differences in objectively measured body characteristics should not automatically be interpreted as differences in body-image satisfaction.