Intrapersonal characteristics of body-related guilt, shame, pride, and envy in Canadian adults

Eva Pila; Jennifer Brunet; Peter R E Crocker; Kent C Kowalski; Catherine M Sabiston

doi:10.1016/j.bodyim.2016.01.001

Intrapersonal characteristics of body-related guilt, shame, pride, and envy in Canadian adults

Body Image. 2016 Mar:16:100-6. doi: 10.1016/j.bodyim.2016.01.001. Epub 2016 Jan 20.

Authors

Eva Pila¹, Jennifer Brunet², Peter R E Crocker³, Kent C Kowalski⁴, Catherine M Sabiston⁵

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
² School of Human Kinetics, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
³ School of Human Kinetics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
⁴ College of Kinesiology, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada.
⁵ Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada. Electronic address: catherine.sabiston@utoronto.ca.

PMID: 26799227
DOI: 10.1016/j.bodyim.2016.01.001

Abstract

This study examined differences in body-related shame, guilt, pride, and envy based on intrapersonal characteristics of sex, age, and weight status in 527 Canadian adults. Compared to men, women reported significantly higher shame and guilt contextualized to the body. No sex differences were observed for envy or pride. Middle-aged adults reported higher shame and lower pride compared with young adults, whereas no age differences were observed with body-related guilt. Meanwhile, shame and guilt were highest for individuals who had overweight or obese weight status, and pride was highest in individuals with average weight status. Overall, effect sizes were small and there were no significant interaction effects between sex, age, and weight status across body-related emotions. Further research is needed to capture similarities and differences of body-related self-conscious emotions between intrapersonal characteristics, to aid the development of intervention strategies to manage this important dimension of body image.

Keywords: Age differences; Physical self; Self-conscious emotions; Sex differences; Weight status.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Adult
Age Distribution
Aged
Body Image / psychology*
Body Weight*
Canada
Emotions
Female
Guilt*
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Obesity / psychology
Overweight
Self Concept*
Sex Distribution
Shame
Young Adult