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Body Image 10 (2013) 628–631

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Body Image

journa l homepage: www.e lsev ier .com/ locate /bodyimage

rief research report

eight discrepancy and body appreciation among women in Polandnd Britain

onna Taylora,∗, Ilona Szpakowskaa, Viren Swamia,b

Department of Psychology, University of Westminster, London, UKDepartment of Psychology, HELP University College, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

r t i c l e i n f o

rticle history:eceived 28 March 2013eceived in revised form 17 July 2013ccepted 23 July 2013

a b s t r a c t

Previous studies have suggested that the process of transmigration has detrimental effects on the bodyimage of migrants relative to women in the country of origin. In the present work, we examined the bodyimage of Polish migrants in Britain (n = 153), Polish women in Poland (n = 153), and a comparison groupof British White women (n = 110). Participants completed a measure of actual-ideal weight discrepancy

eywords:eight discrepancy

ody appreciationastern Europeoland

and the Body Appreciation Scale (BAS). Contrary to hypotheses, our results showed that Polish women inPoland had significantly higher weight discrepancy than their counterparts in Britain. Further analysesshowed that the BAS reduced to two dimensions among Polish participants, with Polish participants inPoland having significantly lower body appreciation than Polish migrants. We suggest that the sociocul-tural changes that have taken place in Eastern Europe may place women in that region at relatively high

ive bo

ommunism risk for developing negat

Introduction

It has been suggested that, prior to the adoption of free mar-et economics in Eastern Europe, Communism protected womenn that region from negative body image through the rejection ofbjectification and through its emphasis on egalitarianism (Catina

Joja, 2001; Haavio-Mannila & Purhonen, 2001). Although thislaim has been contested (Eisler, 2001), it is clear that the intro-uction of Western values and a market economy contributed toociocultural changes (e.g., changes in the role of women, an influxf Western media portraying a thin ideal), which in turn led torise in body dissatisfaction among women (Catina & Joja, 2001;athner, 2001). In fact, studies now report that the incidence ofegative body image is comparable between Eastern European andestern European or American women (Forbes, Doroszewicz, Card,Adams-Curtis, 2004; Frederick, Forbes, & Berezovskaya, 2008;

wami et al., 2010).Poland is an important site in which to investigate these issues,

iven that it was one of the first Eastern European countries todopt Western values (Forbes et al., 2004). In addition, the preva-ence of overweight and obesity has increased dramatically in the

ast forty years, with scholars attributing this to the socio-politicalhanges that occurred post-1989 (Chrzanowska, Koziel, & Ulijaszek,007). Where studies have compared Polish and Western women

∗ Corresponding author at: Department of Psychology, University of Westminster,09 Regent Street, London W1B 2UW, UK. Tel.: +44 2079115000.

E-mail address: d.taylor4@westminster.ac.uk (D. Taylor).

740-1445/$ – see front matter © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.ttp://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2013.07.008

dy image.© 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

on measures of body image, including weight discrepancy, desire tolose weight, and internalization of media messages about appear-ance, there appear to be few differences (Al Sabbah et al., 2009;Forbes et al., 2004; Swami et al., 2010). There is also evidence thatthe thin ideal has become ubiquitous among urban Poles and thatup to 70% of normal-weight Polish women want to be slimmer(Pawlinska-Chmara, Wronka, Suliga, & Broczek, 2007).

Just as important as examining body image within particularnational contexts is the need to investigate how the process oftransmigration affects body image. Following the 2004 enlarge-ment of the European Union, a large number of Polish-bornindividuals migrated to Britain, where they are now one of thelargest ethnic minority groups (Burrell, 2009). Importantly, thereis evidence to suggest that non-Western migrants to Westernnational settings adopt the beauty ideals of the host culture (Tovée,Swami, Furnham, & Mangalparsad, 2006), which contributes torelatively greater body image disturbance among migrants thanindividuals in the country of origin (Swami, Mada, & Tovée, 2012).We are not aware of previous studies that have examined theimpact of transmigration on Polish women’s body image specifi-cally, although there is evidence that the process of acculturationmay detrimentally affect the body esteem of Eastern Europeanwomen (Sussman, Truong, & Lim, 2007).

Here, we examined scores on measures of body image amongPolish women in Poland and Britain, in relation to British White

women. To operationalize body image, we measured participants’actual-ideal weight discrepancy (a measure of perceptual bodydissatisfaction) and body appreciation (a measure of positive regardfor one’s body). Based on the above review, we hypothesized that

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here would be no significant differences in body image betweenritish White women and Polish women in Poland. However, welso expected that Polish women in Britain would show more neg-tive body image than their counterparts in Poland and Britain.

Method

articipants

Poland. Participants in Poland were a total of 153 women fromhe community in Warsaw, an important economic node in Easternnd Central Europe with one of the highest GDPs per capita in theegion. Participants in this group ranged in age from 18 to 66 yearsM = 33.45, SD = 13.05) and in body mass index (BMI) from 15.92o 38.86 kg/m2 (M = 23.55, SD = 4.78). All participants were ethnicoles and, in terms of religious affiliation, 65.4% self-reported beingatholic, 7.8% as Protestant, 4.6% as atheists, and 22.2% as beingf some other religious affiliation. In terms of educational qualifi-ations, 61.3% had completed secondary schooling, 21.3% had anndergraduate degree, 10.0% had a postgraduate degree, and 7.3%ad some other qualification. In this sample, 24.7% of participantsere single, 23.3% were in a relationship, 40.7% were married, 4.7%ere divorced or separated, and the remainder were of some otherarital status.

Polish migrants. Participants in this group were 153 Polishomen recruited from the community in London. All partici-ants were first-generation migrants who had been resident inritain for between 1 and 21 years (M = 4.00, SD = 2.50). Partici-ants, all of whom were ethnic Poles, ranged in age from 18 to 67ears (M = 34.63, SD = 13.11) and in BMI from 14.32 to 38.86 kg/m2

M = 22.78, SD = 4.18). In terms of religious affiliation, 57.0% self-eported as being Catholic, 7.9% were Protestant, 7.3% were atheists,nd 27.8% were of some other religious affiliation. Of this sample,0.0% had completed secondary schooling, 28.9% had an under-raduate degree, 11.2% had a postgraduate degree, and 9.9% hadome other qualification. Of this sample, 23.3% were single, 30.0%ere in a relationship, 35.3% were married, 7.3% were separated orivorced, and 4.0% were of some other status.

Britain. We also recruited a total 110 British White womenrom the community in London. Participants in this group rangedn age from 18 to 66 years (M = 34.83, SD = 12.62) and in BMI from6.28 to 34.89 kg/m2 (M = 23.18, SD = 4.08). The majority of partici-ants in this group self-reported as being Protestants (51.8%), while3.4% were atheists, 14.3% were Catholics, and the remainder weref some other religious affiliation. Of this sample, 56.5% had com-leted secondary schooling, 24.1% had an undergraduate degree,1.1% had a postgraduate degree, and 8.3% had some other qual-

fication. Here, 17.8% of participants were single, 29.0% were in aelationship, 42.1% were married, 5.6% were separated or divorced,nd the remainder were of some other marital status.

rocedure

Ethics approval was obtained from the relevant ethics com-ittee. The survey was initially prepared in English and a Polish

ersion was developed using the standard back-translation tech-ique (Breslin, 1970). The second author translated the scales intoolish and this version was then translated into English by anndependent translator not affiliated with the study. Minor dif-erences were settled by agreement between the two translators.

wo female researchers recruited participants from Warsaw usingn opportunistic method of sampling. Potential participants werepproached in public areas (e.g., libraries, shopping districts, parks)nd invited to take part in a study on body image. Participants

10 (2013) 628–631 629

completed the survey in a quiet location set up for the purposesof the study and returned completed surveys to the researchersin a sealed envelope. Once a sufficiently large sample had beenrecruited in Poland, the same female researchers recruited an age-matched sample of Polish migrants and British White participantsin London. Potential participants were recruited directly from theresearchers’ social networks and typically completed the surveysin their own homes, with completed surveys being returned tothe researchers in sealed envelopes. Age-matching was conductedby recruiting participants in Britain based on 5-year age groupingcomparable to participants in Poland. The survey was presented inPolish for Polish migrants and in English for British White women.All participants provided informed consent and completed paper-and-pencil surveys in which the order of presentation of the scaleswas counterbalanced. Participants were provided with a debriefsheet upon completion of the survey. All participants took part ona voluntary basis and were not remunerated for participation.

Measures

Weight discrepancy. We measured actual-ideal weight dis-crepancy using the Photographic Figure Rating Scale (PFRS; Swami,Salem, Furnham, & Tovée, 2008). This scale presents participantswith 10 greyscale photographic images of women ranging in bodysize from emaciated to obese. Participants were asked to rate thefigure that most closely matched their own body (current) and thefigure they would most like to possess (ideal). All ratings were madeon a 10-point scale (1 = Figure with the lowest BMI, 10 = Figure withthe highest BMI) and, following earlier work (e.g., Swami, Stieger,et al., 2012) weight discrepancy was computed as the differencebetween unsigned current and ideal ratings. Participants were alsoasked to rate the figure they believed men of their age and culturalgroup found most attractive and the figure that best representsthe body that is typical for a woman of their age and cultural back-ground. The PFRS has good psychometric properties and test–retestreliability after three weeks (Swami, Campana, Fereirra, Barrett,Harris, & Tavares, 2011; Swami, Stieger, et al., 2012; Swami, Stieger,Haubner, & Voracek, 2008; Swami, Taylor, & Carvalho, 2011).

Body appreciation. Body appreciation was measured using theBody Appreciation Scale (BAS; Avalos, Tylka, & Wood-Barcalow,2005), a 13-item scale that measures aspects of positive bodyimage. All items were rated on a 5-point scale (1 = Never, 5 = Always).Previous studies among Western samples have shown that the BAShas a one-dimensional structure and good psychometric properties(Avalos et al., 2005; Swami, Stieger, et al., 2008). By contrast, amongnon-Western samples, the scale appears to reduce to two dimen-sions that measure general body appreciation and body imageinvestment, respectively (Swami, Campana, et al., 2011; Swami& Chamorro-Premuzic, 2008; Swami, Mada, et al., 2012; Swami,Taylor, et al., 2011). Because we are not aware of its previous use inPolish, we examined the factor structure of the BAS in the presentstudy.

Subjective social status. Participants were asked to completethe McArthur Ladder of Subjective Social Status (MLSSS: Adler, Epel,Castellazzo, & Ickovics, 2000), a measure of subjective social statusthat is presented as a ‘social ladder’. Participants were asked toselect which rung of the ladder best described their social status.Responses on this scale range from 1 to 10, with lower values indi-cating lower subjective ratings. Ratings on the MLSSS have beenshown to correlate with measures of objective social status (Adler

et al., 2000).

Demographics. Participants provided their demographicdetails, namely age, ethnicity, religion, educational qualifications,

630 D. Taylor et al. / Body Image 10 (2013) 628–631

Table 1Descriptive statistics (M and SD) and between-group differences for all key variables included in the present study by group.

Item Group Difference

Poland (n = 153) Polish Migrants (n = 153) British White (n = 110) F p �p2

M SD M SD M SD

Age 33.45 13.05 34.63 13.11 34.84 12.62 0.47 .627 <.01Body mass index 23.55 4.78 22.78 4.18 23.18 4.09 1.16 .314 <.01Subjective social status 5.54 1.38 5.38 1.28 5.49 1.39 0.52 .597 <.01Weight discrepancy 1.91 1.43 1.50 1.30 1.48 1.47 4.28 .014 .02Current body size 4.78 2.16 4.97 1.83 4.64 1.91 1.51 .222 <.01Ideal body size 2.88 1.17 3.45 1.14 3.16 1.14 3.92 .021 .02Most attractive figure to men 3.28 1.07 3.66 1.19 3.70 1.18 5.83 .003 .03

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White participants (p = .001), while the latter two groups were notsignificantly different from each other (p = .949).3

Figure that represents typical woman 4.69 1.51 4.84General body appreciation 3.27 0.94 3.73Total body appreciation 3.24 0.85 3.60

eight, and weight. Height and weight data were used to calculatearticipants’ self-reported BMI as kg/m2. Polish participants inritain were also asked to state how long they had resided inritain in years.

Results

reliminary Analyses

Descriptive statistics and the results of univariate analyses ofariance (ANOVAs) with group as the independent variable areeported in Table 1. As can be seen, there were no significantetween-group differences in participant age, BMI, or subjectiveocial status. There were also no significant group differences inhe distribution of educational qualifications, �(7) = 7.60, p = .473,r marital status, �(8) = 5.61, p = .691.

eight Discrepancy

There were significant between-group differences in weight dis-repancy, albeit with a small effect size (see Table 1). Post hoc Tukeyests showed that participants in Poland had significantly greatereight discrepancy compared with Polish migrants (p = .031) andritish White participants (p = .039). Polish migrants and Britishhite participants were not significantly different on weight dis-

repancy (p = .991). We also examined current and ideal body sizecores individually. As seen in Table 1, there were no significantetween-group differences in perceived current body size. By con-rast, Polish participants in Poland idealized a significantly thinnerody than did British White participants (p = .016), who in turn ide-lized a thinner body size than did Polish migrants (p = .015). Thereere also significant differences in the figure that participants

elieved men found most attractive, with Polish women selectingsignificantly thinner figure than Polish migrants (p = .011) and

ritish White participants (p = .010), while the latter two groupsere not significantly different (p = .958). Finally, there were no sig-ificant between-group differences in the figure that participantselected as being typical for women of their own age and culturalackground.1

ody Appreciation

We conducted exploratory factor analysis of the BAS datasing data from all Polish participants (i.e., those in Poland and

1 When we repeated the same set of analyses with subjective social status as aovariate, the overall pattern of results remained unchanged. Additionally, covariateubjective social status did not have a significant effect on any of the comparisonsall Fs ≤ 0.65, all ps ≥ .421, all �p

2 < .01).

1.62 4.70 1.58 0.39 .678 <.010.82 – – 21.08 <.001 .070.72 3.63 0.75 11.30 <.001 .05

migrants in Britain). Bartlett’s test of sphericity, �2(78) = 1957.17,p < .001, and the Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin measure of sampling ade-quacy, KMO = .90, indicated that the BAS item had adequatecommon variance for factor analysis. We, therefore, conducteda factor analysis using varimax rotation. The EGV1 criterion andexamination of the screen-plot suggested the extraction of threefactors after five iterations. However, parallel analysis indicatedthat the first two eigenvalues from the random data (3.20 and2.12) were smaller than their real data equivalents (4.43 and 2.24),whereas the third eigenvalue for the random data (1.87) was largerthan the third eigenvalue for the real data (1.66). This suggestedthat two factors should be retained, explaining 34.1% and 17.3%of the variance, respectively. As with previous non-Western data(Swami, Campana, et al., 2011; Swami, Mada, et al., 2012; Swami,Taylor, et al., 2011), 10 of the items loaded onto a General BodyAppreciation factor (factor loadings ≥ .48), whereas 3 items (#8,9, 12) loaded onto a Body Image Investment factor (factor load-ings ≥ .65).

For General Body Appreciation, internal consistency coefficientswere good for both groups (˛ ≥ .83). For Body Image Investment,however, coefficients were below the recommended cut-off of .70(˛ ≤ .62), so for further analyses we did not include this factor. Ascan be seen in Table 1, there was a significant difference betweenPolish participants in Poland and Britain on General Body Apprecia-tion scores, with a moderate effect size. Participants in Poland hadsignificantly lower general body appreciation that their migrantcounterparts in Britain.2

Differences in the factor structure of the BAS precludes a directcomparison with British White and Polish participants. However,the General Body Appreciation and Body Image Investment factorswere significantly correlated with each other among both Polishparticipants in Poland (r = .18, p = .024) and Polish migrants (r = .24,p = .002). Computing a body appreciation score with all 13 itemsof the BAS returned acceptable internal consistency coefficientsfor both Polish participants in Britain (˛ = .70) and Polish migrants(˛ = .74). As seen in Table 1, there were significant between-groupdifferences in overall body appreciation. Post hoc Tukey testsshowed that participants in Poland had significantly lower bodyappreciation compared with Polish migrants (p < .001) and British

2 When this analysis was repeated with subjective social status entered as acovariate, the pattern of group differences remains unchanged and the covariatehad no significant effect on the comparison, F(1, 298) = 2.33, p = .128, �p

2 < .01.3 We repeated this analysis with subjective social status as a covariate but the

covariate term had not significant effect on the comparison, F(1, 404) = 0.08, p = .781,�p

2 < .01.

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Discussion

Our results indicated that Polish participants in Poland hadignificantly greater weight discrepancy than their migrant coun-erparts. Indeed, the former group appeared to have poorer weightiscrepancy compared to our British White sample, whereas theigrant group appeared to be more similar than different to

he British White comparison group. This difference appearedo be driven by a greater idealisation of thinness among Pol-sh participants in Poland compared participants in Britain.ur results also indicated that among Polish participants theAS reduced to two dimensions, with a primary factor assess-

ng general body appreciation. This is consistent with whatas been reported among other non-Western samples (Swami,ampana, et al., 2011; Swami & Chamorro-Premuzic, 2008; Swami,aylor, et al., 2011). It was evident that Polish participantsad significantly lower general body appreciation than theirigrant counterparts. When we examined total body appreci-

tion scores, we found that Polish participants in Poland hadignificantly lower body appreciation than their counterparts inritain.

Taken together, the present results are at odds with previ-us work indicating that a change in culture places individuals atreater risk for developing negative body image (Swami, Mada,t al., 2012). Rather, our results appear to suggest that Polishomen in Poland have more negative body image than their coun-

erparts in Britain. At the very least, our results would seem toonfirm the suggestion that whatever protection Communism hadfforded Eastern European women pre-1989 has since been lostFrederick et al., 2008). Explaining why Polish women in Polandave more negative body image than their counterparts in Britain,n the other hand, may be more difficult. It is possible that womenn Poland experience relatively heightened cultural pressure tottain thinness and to ensure that their weight remains ‘correct’r ‘proper’ (Brytek-Matera & Rybicka-Klimczyk, 2011). This mayartly be the outcome of the social costs of rapid socioculturalhange over the past two decades, particularly for women who haveo negotiate new cultural identities (Pilecki, Nowak, & Zdenkowska-ilecka, 2009).

Alternative explanations include the possibility that Polish cul-ure or values serve to protect Polish women’s body image whenhey migrate to Britain. For example, between-group differencesn factors that we did not measure, such as self-esteem or degreef acculturation, may help explain why Polish women in Britainave more positive body image than their counterparts in Poland.imilarly, Polish women who migrate may differ in their levelf exposure to beauty ideals than Polish women who do notigrate, which may confer a protective influence on the former

roup.Limitations of the present work include the sampling strat-

gy, which resulted in a non-representative samples and data thatay not generalize to wider populations. Indeed, it is possible

hat our sampling strategy resulted in between-group differenceshat were not measured in the present study, but which nev-rtheless impacted on our results. In this vein, we included aimited number of variables and future studies would do well tonclude more comprehensive measures of body image and pos-ible predictors or mediators, such as acculturation, self-esteem,

nd attitudes toward media ideals. These limitations notwithstand-ng, our results suggest that further attention should be directed atxamining body image among Eastern European women generallynd Polish women specifically. The sociocultural changes that have

10 (2013) 628–631 631

taken place in Eastern Europe may place women in that region atrelatively high risk for developing negative body image.

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