Association of Body Cathexis and Morphological Variables on College-Aged Females in an Exercise Setting

Abstract

The primary purpose of this study was to determine the association and predictability between body cathexis and morphology in college-aged females who were experiencing neither clinical obesity nor anorexia nervosa. The subjects were 41 female college-aged students who were beginning an aerobic dance course. Each subject completed a modified Body Cathexis Scale. The morphological evaluation included 6 skinfold measurements, 8 muscle circumferences, and 6 skeletal diameters. Body fatness and body density were estimated from the triceps, thigh, and suprailiac skinfolds. Somatotypes were determined from the Heath-Carter method. Body parts composing the midtorso were the area of greatest dissatisfaction. Independent t tests between subjects with positive versus negative body-cathexis scores indicated significant differences on 18 of the 32 body-cathexis items but there were no significant differences on any of the morphological variables between the two groups. Zero-order correlations between individual cathexis items, and the morphological variables were computed; 182 of the 924 correlates were significant. Stepwise multiple regression analyses utilized to estimate morphology from body cathexis and body cathexis from morphology resulted in adjusted Rs ranging from .33 to .10. In the present study morphological variables and body-cathexis score had little predictive value or association with each other.