Self-Concept Profiles of Competitive Bodybuilders

Abstract

29 men and 23 women competitive bodybuilders were administered the Tennessee Self-concept Scale to assess whether their self-perceptions differed from those of nonbodybuilders. t tests confirmed significantly higher scores than the norms on personal, social, and satisfaction dimensions for men and for women on moral-ethical, personal, social, satisfaction, and behavior dimensions, in addition to total positive. Both men and women had significantly lower self-criticism scores, which suggests the probability that the other scores were artificially elevated by the respondents' deliberate effort to present a favorable picture of self. Also, when compared with men bodybuilders, women bodybuilders had significantly higher scores on moral-ethical, satisfaction, and total positive dimensions.