Body Image and Adolescence

[Page 224]Our body image is the picture of our own body, which we form in our mind. In other words, body image is what you think you look like. Body image dissatisfaction is dissatisfaction with one’s size, weight, and shape. Recent research suggests that college-age students experience a great deal of body dissatisfaction, with 90% of women and 80% of men not liking what they see when they look in the mirror. But if body image dissatisfaction becomes normative in one’s early 20s, when and how does it develop? This entry examines the development of body image dissatisfaction, the impact and prevalence of body image dissatisfaction, and some of the specific factors that promote body image dissatisfaction during adolescence and early adulthood.