Recently we wrote about a University of Missouri study that said that women develop feelings of inadequacy about their bodies when viewing images of magazine ad models. Now this story in the Daily Mail says that a third of all women are so self-conscious about their bodies, that they won’t even get naked in front of a husband or partner.

One woman in ten won’t undress unless all the lights are out and one quarter of women won’t enter the bathroom if her husband or partner is already in there.

But while women are becoming more body-shy, men still enjoy being naked and spend nearly double the amount of time per day without clothes that women do.

The results are from a survey of 3500 women taken by SHUC.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re thin or plump, blonde or brunette, tall or petite, every woman is likely to have bad feelings about her body after viewing photos of models in magazines.

A study conducted at the University of Missouri surveyed women on their feelings about themselves, their bodies, hair, weight, etc. One group of women then looked at neutral images and a second group viewed models in magazine ads. The women’s attitudes towards their own bodies were measured again after viewing the images. The women who viewed images of models experienced a drop in their level of satisfaction with their own bodies.

The assumption that only overweight women would be less satisfied with their own bodies was incorrect. All women, regardless of weight experienced an impact in self-image after viewing the magazine models.

Because these images are often computer-enhanced, partially computer-generated and have all imperfections air-brushed out, it is not surprising that no woman feels she comes up to the standards of beauty that are held up by the media.

The study – “Predictors of Media Effects on Body Dissatisfaction in European American Women” – was published in this month’s Sex Roles: A Journal of Research.

Women of All Sizes Feel Badly about their Bodies after Seeing Models

A new study brings some depressing statistics. Baby Boomers report more health problems and more pain and difficulty in performing daily tasks than did their predecessors just 10 years ago.

Recent studies have shown the rate of disability among those 65 and older to be declining but these statistics suggest that in 10 years, boomers may not be enjoying the same rate of good health. Researchers compared self-reported health in three age groups – those born in 1936-41 (now ages 66 to 71), 1942-47 (now ages 60 to 65) and 1948-53 (now ages 54 to 59).

The study showed:

* The two younger groups were less likely than the oldest group to have said their health was “excellent or very good” at 51 to 56 years of age.
* The youngest group reported having more pain, chronic health conditions, and drinking and psychiatric problems than people who were the same age 12 years earlier.
* Compared with the oldest group, the youngest group was more likely to have reported difficulty in walking, climbing steps, getting up from a chair, kneeling or crouching, and doing other normal daily physical tasks.

So, what happened? Researchers suggest that it may be the rising incidence of obesity and obesity-related problems such as diabetes and heart disease.

I wonder if there isn’t a psychological aspect to these physiological findings. The oldest group, born during The Great Depression and World War II, experienced more hardship and had parents who experienced more hardship than did the subsequent generations. The boomer generation is the one that celebrated youth, the generation least comfortable with the idea of growing old, the generation that proclaimed distrust for anyone over 30. Boomers may the be generation most uncomfortable with the physical evidence of aging, and therefore take more notice of it.

Whatever the reason, the data suggest that the boomer generation may not reach retirement age as active individuals refusing to leave the work force but instead contribute to rising health care costs.

New research shows that when it comes to being happy, it’s all about expectation, and if what we experience doesn’t meet our expectations, we are more likely to be unhappy than we are to be happy if what we experience exceeds expectations.

A study in the Journal of Consumer Research: March 2007 by Vanessa M. Patrick, Deborah J. MacInnis, and C. Whan Park entitled “Not as Happy as I Thought I’d be? Affective Misforecasting and Product Evaluations” indicates that the difference between the way we think we’ll feel and how we actually do feel is the key to being happy, whether it be in a product or a marriage.

Recently a survey proclaimed that Denmark was home to the happiest citizens on Earth. Why are they so happy? Because their expectations are low. The Danes tend to have lower and more realistic expectations about life and therefore find greater satisfaction.

In the consumer study, two groups watched a movie clip. One group was given rave reviews before seeing the movie and the other group heard disparaging reviews. Those who expected to see a great movie were very disappointed and unsatisfied. However, those who expected to see a boring movie did not notice the ways in which the movie was better than they expected.

What does this say about people? It seems to say that we are unappreciative of the good things we expect and even those we don’t expect and take them for granted. But when we have a high expectation, we are quick to be bitterly disappointed.

I don’t believe we should become pessimists, expecting always that things will turn out badly or feel we don’t deserve happiness, but the pressures we put on ourselves and others because of unrealistic expectations can only lead to dissatisfaction and disappointment. When we expect that this or that product or even that a relationship is going to be the key factor in our happiness, we are setting ourselves and others up for a big fall.

The study’s lesson for marketers is to be careful about how many and what type of promises they make for a product, for if the consumer doesn’t experience what you promised in your hype, the dissatisfaction level will be high. But the lesson for all of us may be to stop and take stock of the good things we don’t really notice in our lives.