We live in a culture which celebrates thinness and excoriates fatness. For young women, the fear of-becoming fat develops during adolescence and continues into adulthood, even among thin, active females. These fears can create patterns of over-exercise or under-eating which may have devastating health consequences. Inadequate intakes of food and calcium can lead to osteoporosis (bone-thinning), and a low calorie intake can contribute to amenorrhoea (lack of normal menstruation), which, by lowering the output of the bone-building sex hormone oestrogen, can increase the severity of osteoporosis. Extreme preoccupation with thinness can also lead to anorexia nervosa and/or bulimia, two disorders which can produce an array of ruinous physical problems.

What's the best way for young women to improve their perceptions of their bodies and hopefully lower their risk of developing amenorrhoea, anorexia, bulimia and osteoporosis? According to researchers at the Melpomene Institute in Minneapolis, Minnesota, participation in sports is one of the best body-image enhancers. Melpomene investigators studied 152 young women aged 11-17 who were attending YWCA summer programmes in 1994, both in the United States and Mexico. The young women completed questionnaires designed to obtain information about perceived weight, concerns about weight, dieting behavior, body image, and factors influencing body image.

Researchers also measured each young woman's BMI (Body Mass Index), which is simply body weight (in kilograms) divided by height (in metres) squared. Example: Bess weighs 60 kilograms (132 pounds) and is 1.7 metres in height (5'7'). 1.7 X 1.7 = 2.89. BMI = 60 divided by 2.89 = 20.8. Normal BMI ranges between 20 and 25, and a BMI higher than about 27 for women has been linked with an increased risk of diabetes and high blood pressure.

The young women in the Melpomene study reflected their culture's adoration of slimness, tending to overestimate their weight if they were of a normal weight and being happy if they were underweight. For example, women who viewed themselves as too fat actually had a BMI of just 22.3, which is considered a healthy weight/height ratio. Adolescents who had high body image possessed an average BMI of about 18.8, which is considered below-normal .

Sports participation was linked with improved body image. Young women who played on higher numbers of sports teams had better body images, compared to women who played on few or no teams. However, physical activity per se was not a good indicator of body image: 18 per cent of women with medium body image and 26 per cent of those with high body image were active seven days a week, versus 33 per cent of young women with low body image, probably because the latter group was attempting to use exercise to lose weight.

Being 'black' (African-American) also tended to improve body image. About 44 per cent of black young women had a high body image, compared with just 32 per cent of white women and 33 per cent of Native American women. Black women were more realistic about their weight; blacks who said they were 'about right' in weight had a BMI of 20.9, versus 18.8 for whites. Strikingly, 40 per cent of the black young women considered themselves 'attractive' or 'very attractive,' compared with just 9 per cent of whites. Similarly, 36 per cent of blacks reported that the statement 'I feel competent about my body and the things it can do' was true for them, versus just 8 per cent of whites. 28 per cent of whites stated that wanting to be attractive to young men was a factor which influenced body image, compared with O per cent of blacks. A 'sense of style' was more important than weight in determining body image for blacks.

Aside from sports participation and ethnic background, the content but not the frequency of parental comments were also critical in determining body image. Body image scores of young women who received negative comments from parents were much worse than the self-ratings of women who received positive comments. Overall, women with high body image tended not to look outside themselves to define their body images; inwardly they were able to generate feelings of self worth which extended to their physical appearances.

Why did sports participation help body image? It's believed that sports-team participation can be a source of self esteem through approval from peers, parents, and friends. The young women in the Melpomene study also reported that team participation helped make them feel that their bodies were 'capable' and 'competent.'. These positive feelings seemed to produce a fairly high level of satisfaction with their bodies.

('Adolescent Girls: Factors Influencing Low and High Body Image, ' Melpomene, vol. 14(2), pp. 14-22, 1995)