Body Image and Leisure Among Older Women
Open Access
- Author:
- Liechty, Toni
- Graduate Program:
- Leisure Studies
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- May 11, 2009
- Committee Members:
- Careen M Yarnal, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Careen M Yarnal, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Patricia Barthalow Koch, Committee Member
Andrew Justin Mowen, Committee Member
Deborah Lee Kerstetter, Committee Member - Keywords:
- leisure
older women
leisure constraints
body image
life course perspective - Abstract:
- Body image is a multi-dimensional construct encompassing an individual’s attitudes, evaluations, thoughts, and feelings about his or her body. For American women, body image plays an integral role in everyday life, including leisure. For younger women and girls, poor body image is related to lower levels of participation and decreased enjoyment in leisure activities. Understanding of the association between body image and leisure, however, is extremely limited and researchers have not yet addressed older women. Therefore, the purpose of this dissertation was to explore the role of body image in the leisure of older women. This dissertation is comprised of two article manuscripts. Adopting a life course perspective the first manuscript focuses on older women’s perceptions of body image. Findings focus on the events and life factors that shape body image, trajectories of body image across the life course, and adaptive strategies for maintaining or improving body image. Participants reported that body image was largely shaped by interpersonal interactions and by society as well as by numerous physical changes such as pregnancy and menopause. Participants also depicted various adaptive strategies that allowed them to maintain or improve body image with age including de-prioritizing appearance and focusing on controllable aspects of their appearance. Older women’s experiences of body image in their leisure activities are addressed in the second manuscript. Participants describe body image as both a facilitator and a constraint. Many also described positive feelings about their appearance as facilitating their participation in social or visible leisure activities. Furthermore, participants illustrated that their body image focus has shifted from concerns about appearance toward concerns about health and physical ability. This cognitive change led to shifts in the role of body image in their leisure. Finally, several participants explained that they would not participate in activities that involved wearing a bathing suit due to concerns about appearance. Overall, the findings of this dissertation suggest that age or the aging process plays a role in older women’s priorities and perceptions of body image. Changing attitudes influence the role of body image in leisure by shifting focus away from appearance toward health and physical ability. This study contributes to the body image literature by focusing on older women, a typically overlooked population, and by investigating the association between older women’s body image and leisure, a topic not previously addressed. Additionally, this study extends leisure and aging literature by exploring the role of body image in the everyday leisure lives of older women. By so doing, this study fills conceptual gaps and extends understanding of leisure theory. Further research is needed to understand the process by which cognitive changes occur related to body image and to investigate possibilities for incorporating the adaptive strategies of older women into programs and interventions for younger populations.