Introduction
Self-concept constitutes an important component of human personality which plays a pivotal role in the development, regulation and maintenance of the nature and dynamics of human behaviours. Body image is an inseparable constituent of self-concept which significantly influences the human functioning, performance and quality of life (Cash & Smolak, 2011). Body image has been reported to regulate and impact interpersonal relationships, self-esteem, eating behaviours, well-being and other dimensions of human behaviours irrespective of age, gender, cultural background and personality attributes of the individuals. Recent years have witnessed an upsurge in the diversity and sophistication in body image scholarship comprising body image development and difficulties of boys and girls from various cultures along with new assessment tools.
The body image scholarship has taken a new shape after the emergence of positive psychology as a new branch of Psychology in 2000. Before that, the scientific study of body image was basically confined to the efforts to understand negative body image especially with reference to the eating disorders and other emotional problems of women. The researchers have demonstrated that body image has significant implications for understanding human behaviours and performance in a multitude of individual, interpersonal and social contexts. It has been argued that the construct of positive body image is multi-faceted and multi-dimensional in nature, different from the negative body image, characterized by different attributes and regulatory mechanisms, closely associated with a host of measures namely body appreciation, positive rational acceptance coping, body image flexibility, body functionality, attunement, body pride, positive and self-accepting body talk, body sanctification, a broad conceptualization of beauty and body acceptance by others (Webb et al., 2015). The positive body image has also been reported to play a significant role in positive human functioning and productivity proliferating across age, gender and cultures (Jain & Tiwari, 2016b; Webb et al., 2015).
The has been argued that the scientific study of positive body image attracted less attention in comparison to negative body image (Avalos et al., 2005; Tylka & Wood-Barcalow, 2015) involving different types of psychopathologies such as eating disorders, dysmorphic disorder etc., employing mostly women participants having affiliations with the Western socio-cultural milieu. It has also been argued that the majority of the researches have been carried out applying quantitative methods which have failed in their attempts to conceptualize the exact nature and dynamics of positive and negative body image. The researchers have suggested that future studies should focus to employ qualitative methods or mixed methods which would decipher the true nature of body image of any kind (Tylka & Wood-Barcalow, 2015).
The scales of positive body image like the Body Esteem Scale (Franzoi & Shields, 1984), the Body Esteem Scale for Adolescents and Adults (Mendelson et al., 2001), the Appearance Evaluation subscale of the Multidimensional Body-Self Relations Questionnaire (Brown et al., 1990; Cash, 2002) and body appreciation scale (Avalos et al., 2005) have been based on satisfaction. In addition, these scales have conceptualized body image as a continuous bipolar construct with positive and negative poles representing body satisfaction and body dissatisfaction, respectively (Webb et al., 2015). The recent findings have shown that positive and negative body images are different and regulated by dissimilar dynamics (Tylka & Wood-Barcalow, 2015).
The researchers have suggested for developing a new measure for cultivating a deeper understanding into the nature and dynamics of positive body image employing qualitative and mixed methods study of diverse samples with dissimilar socio-cultural features (Webb et al., 2015). It has also been observed that initial qualitative studies of positive body image have exerted formative influences on the conceptualizations and measurement of positive body image (Frisén & Holmqvist, 2010; Holmqvist & Frisén, 2012; Wood-Barcalow et al., 2010a). In addition, these studies have helped to understand and establish curative, preventive and promotive potentials of positive body image (Webb et al., 2015).
Present Investigation
The present research attempted to explore the basic nature and attributes of positive body image with the ultimate goal to standardize a scale of positive body image based on the inherent contents of the qualitative data. The study employed an exploratory mixed methods design which comprised data collection in two phases; the qualitative phase and the quantitative phase with different but mutually inclusive objectives. Based on the insights from emerged themes and sub-themes of the qualitative phase of the study, a comprehensive positive body image scale was standardized in the second phase of the study.
Researchers have analyzed interviews of the participants having positive body image which resulted in the emergence of features such as body appreciations, body acceptance and love, inner positivity, influencing outer demeanour, a broad conceptualization of beauty, media literate, unconditional acceptance from others, searching for others with a positive body image, spirituality, and body care irrespective of many differences (Frisén & Holmqvist, 2010; Wood-Barcalow et al., 2010b). These constitute core features of positive body image that promote and maintain it. It has also a reciprocal impact on the environment in a growth-enhancing manner.
Measurement of positive body image has been recognized as an important task before researchers. Several positive body image scales have been developed. The empirical evidence suggested that none of these tools focused on the attributes of positive body image in depth. Therefore, it necessitated developing a comprehensive measure of positive body image based on the Indian population. It has been suggested by previous researchers that the exploratory design, a variant of mixed methods design, is very helpful where the nature and attributes of the construct/s being studied are not explicit or established, the measures or instruments have not been standardized, the significant correlates are not known or there is no guiding framework or theory (Creswell et al., 2003; Creswell, 2004). In this backdrop, it was aimed to develop a scale to measure positive body image on Indian Population in the present study. The researchers have reported that research on body image applying qualitative studies is lacking and qualitative or mixed methods have been suggested to explicate the true nature of positive body image (Webb et al., 2015). It was also evident that current research on the psychology of body image is basically confined to the quantitative studies of negative body image employing only women participants belonging mostly to the American and Western societies. The present research attempted to develop insights into the basic nature and dynamics of positive body image of the participants by using exploratory research design, a variant of the mixed methods design, which comprises qualitative study followed by a quantitative study.
Study 1: Qualitative Phase
The first phase of the study aimed to explore the basic themes and descriptive attributes of positive body image with the dual objectives of developing an original understanding the construal of positive body image and prepare a list of relevant items for empirical validation of a scale in the second phase of the study. The major goal of the qualitative study was to find out the basic themes and basic attributes of positive body image to develop a list of preliminary items for the scale.
Methods and Procedure
The first phase of the study employed a qualitative research design in which semi-structured interviews were conducted using a pre-developed protocol. The contents of the interviews were audio-recorded followed by preparation of verbatim inscriptions suitable for thematic analysis as per the guidelines suggested by Braun and Clarke (2006). Before the actual data collection, a pilot study was conducted to ascertain the procedural details of the qualitative study.
Pilot Study
A pilot study was conducted recruiting 12 participants out of 51 comprising five male participants age ranging from 22 to 28 year (M = 25.00, SD = 2.24) and seven females age spanning from 23 to 28 (M = 25.57, SD = 1.72) pursuing their postgraduate degrees. The data of the pilot study were not included in the final data of the study. The inclusion criteria to choose the participants in the study were: participants with normal Body Mass Index (BMI) 18.50-25 (World Health Organization, 2016), participants with apparent normal physical and mental health, participants with age ranging from 20 to 35 years and participants with high scores on Body Appreciation Scale (Avalos et al., 2005).
. The interview protocol was prepared after an in-depth study of important research articles on positive body image (Bailey et al., 2015; Frisén & Holmqvist, 2010; Halliwell, 2015; Swami et al., 2008; Tylka & Wood-Barcalow, 2015; Tylka, 2013; Webb et al., 2015; Wood-Barcalow et al., 2010). The researchers read these articles thoroughly and prepared a list of major attributes of positive body image. Then, this list of attributes was distributed among three researchers with the request to categorize the contents or the attributes in major categories followed by a conference to develop a consensus about the major attributes of positive body image.
According to the protocol, the interviews of the participants were conducted and the same was also audio-taped with the help of recording device available in the mobile phone version Moto G3. The verbatim inscriptions of the recorded interviews were prepared with comments and the data of all the participants were analysed employing the Thematic Analysis Method (Braun & Clarke, 2006). The pilot study helped a lot in developing a uniform method of data analysis, assignment of codes and coming up with themes and sub-themes as well as the method of conducting interviews.
The Actual Study
The following are the major components of the actual qualitative phase of the study:
Sample
In the first phase of the study, the basic objective was to collect data as per the interview protocol evolved after the pilot study. In this phase, 152 (80 males and 72 females) participants were consulted from which thirty-five comprising 17 males (M = 26.29, SD = 2.76) and 18 females (M = 24.83, SD = 2.43) age ranging from 21-30 year met the inclusion criteria discussed in the pilot study and allowed to take part in the qualitative study (Table 1). The mean body appreciation scores and SDs of the male (M = 56.82, SD = 4.10) and female (M = 56.33, SD = 4.06) participants fell in the inclusion criterion range. In addition, the mean body mass index and SDs of the male (M = 23.57, SD = 1.04) and female (M = 21.56, SD = 1.51) participants also signified normal range. The inclusion and exclusion criteria observed in the pilot study were also followed in the actual qualitative data collection. The details of the age, body appreciation scores, height, weight, and body mass index have been portrayed in Table 1.
Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria
The inclusion and exclusion criteria observed in the pilot study were also followed in the actual qualitative data collection. Following inclusion criteria were applied to choose the participants and those who did not meet these criteria were excluded from the study:
a. Participants with normal Body Mass Index (BMI) 18.50-25 (World Health Organization, 2016),
b. Participants with apparent normal physical and mental health,
c. Participants with age ranging from 20 to 35 years, and
d. Participants with high scores on the Body Appreciation Scale (Avalos et al., 2005).
Table 1
Raw scores of age, body appreciation scale, height and weight of the male and female participants of the qualitative study
S. No. | Male | Female |
Age | BAS | H | W | BMI* | Age | BAS | H | W | BMI* |
1. | 30 | 52 | 170.00 | 67.00 | 23.20 | 23 | 58 | 163.25 | 51.40 | 19.30 |
2. | 28 | 56 | 168.50 | 70.00 | 24.70 | 25 | 55 | 166.30 | 59.80 | 21.60 |
3. | 24 | 58 | 178.75 | 69.50 | 21.80 | 22 | 50 | 170.38 | 65.20 | 22.50 |
4. | 29 | 61 | 165.46 | 62.35 | 22.80 | 26 | 57 | 166.50 | 53.75 | 19.40 |
5. | 27 | 53 | 171.28 | 68.56 | 23.40 | 23 | 62 | 165.76 | 62.90 | 22.90 |
6. | 21 | 62 | 178.72 | 67.90 | 21.30 | 24 | 54 | 168.88 | 63.20 | 22.20 |
7. | 23 | 55 | 169.78 | 70.00 | 24.30 | 28 | 61 | 170.11 | 61.70 | 21.30 |
8. | 29 | 57 | 172.00 | 68.37 | 23.10 | 27 | 59 | 164.00 | 55.20 | 20.50 |
9. | 25 | 63 | 174.54 | 69.24 | 22.70 | 21 | 52 | 167.78 | 66.30 | 23.60 |
10. | 28 | 61 | 168.87 | 70.12 | 24.60 | 26 | 55 | 165.34 | 59.33 | 21.70 |
11. | 26 | 62 | 176.48 | 77.10 | 24.80 | 22 | 50 | 167.87 | 67.00 | 23.80 |
12. | 30 | 54 | 173.88 | 69.57 | 23.00 | 26 | 53 | 161.00 | 52.50 | 20.30 |
13. | 22 | 52 | 169.40 | 68.88 | 24.00 | 25 | 55 | 166.78 | 61.40 | 22.10 |
14. | 28 | 58 | 178.72 | 77.34 | 24.20 | 23 | 58 | 165.75 | 54.50 | 19.80 |
15. | 26 | 50 | 176.90 | 78.00 | 24.90 | 28 | 63 | 169.90 | 62.38 | 21.60 |
16. | 27 | 53 | 169.27 | 68.30 | 23.80 | 22 | 59 | 168.10 | 66.10 | 23.40 |
17. | 24 | 59 | 170.56 | 70.20 | 24.10 | 27 | 52 | 164.75 | 52.00 | 19.20 |
18. | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 29 | 61 | 163.56 | 61.30 | 22.90 |
Note: BAS- Body Appreciation Scale, H- Height, W – Weight, BMI – Body Mass Index
*Body Mass Index was computed as per the method of World Health Organization (2016).