To overcome these limitations in African populations, two photographic scales based on real African phenotypes were created: the Body Size Scale (BSS) and the Body Image Scale (BIS). Second, figural stimuli are not developed from objective anthropometric measures, thus limiting their use for comparing body shape perception to anthropometry-related health outcomes. First, figural stimuli may be approximations since they are based on estimated body shapes, which may lead to respondents’ misperceptions. Drawings and silhouette scales are the usual figural stimuli, since they allow for the visual depiction of human body shapes across a spectrum, but they have limitations. Figural stimuli representing different body shapes overcome this limitation.
To date, body shape perceptions have been assessed through a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods, including interviews, focus groups and questionnaires, but these methods from discourse rather than visual do not allow the interviewees’ representations of the body to be accurately assessed. Īlthough the literature highlights the importance of understanding changes in body shape perceptions in African populations to prevent the development of eating and body dysmorphic disorders, common methodological approaches to assess and understand body perceptions in African populations remain limited. Hence, investigating the ‘modern’ acculturation process around body perceptions, including the factors associated with valuing slimness, musculature and “sexy” shapes has started in African countries and African diaspora living in Europe. Eating and body dysmorphic disorders are also emerging among underweight and normal-weight urban Black young people living in Africa and High Income Countries (HIC). Given the influence of the ‘Western’ lifestyle, obesity-related body image disorders are emerging in African populations, as observed in South Africa and Nigeria. Recent studies have shown that disordered dietary behaviors and poor perception of fatness are associated, in urban African adolescents and young adults living in Africa and African diaspora. This could result in body image disturbances and eating disorders in populations traditionally less acquainted with body image disorders related to ‘Western’ contexts. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver ( ) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.īody weight perceptions can be driven by body size norms portrayed in advertising, especially with the globalisation of contemporary consumer society. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. Open AccessThis article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made.
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