Body image: self-satisfaction and psychological representation in Human Figure Drawing / Imagem corporal: auto-satisfação e representação psíquica em desenhos da figura humana

AUTOR(ES)
DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

2007

RESUMO

Among the projective techniques for personality evaluation, the Human Figure Drawing (HFD) is highlighted for its informative richness, being utilized in different contexts of psychological evaluation. It is believed to be able to evaluate aspects of individual body image, herein understood as the psychological experience of our own body. In this sense, dissatisfaction with body size and weight may lead to the elaboration of a depreciative body image, especially in the present socio-cultural context in which a positive emphasis is placed on skinniness whereas obesity carries a negative social stigma. Despite these investigative possibilities and the widespread clinical usage of DFH, few works have actually studied the body image in adults, either obese or not, through graphic self-portraits, implying in the lacking of proper evaluative and normative parameters for the Brazilian scenario. Accordingly, this research aimed to examine the circumstantial relationships between real body size (represented by distinct Body Mass Indexes - BMI) and characteristics projected in the HFD, as well as study the level of satisfaction with the body image by means of objective scale of psychological evaluation (Scale of Satisfaction with Body Image - SSBI). In addition, the putative influence of sex and age variables on body satisfaction was investigated by means of HFD and on level of satisfaction with body image (evaluated by SSBI). One-hundred and twenty healthy volunteers, between 18 and 55 years old, of both sexes, residing in Ribeirão Preto, State of São Paulo, and classified in four groups of 30 individuals each according to their body mass index (underweight, normal weight, overweight, and obese), were scrutinized for these purposes. After acceptance, volunteers were individually evaluated by: semi-structured interview, questionnaire for socio-economical classification, weight and height, HFD (evaluation protocol of Lourenção Van Kolck), and SSBI. The HFD were independently coded by three psychologists previously trained in the evaluation system herein employed, aiming to obtain the highest level of precision. The remaining techniques (socio-economical questionnaire and SSBI) were evaluated following their respective standards. After coding, the results of HFD and SSBI were compared to BMI, sex, and age, by using parametric and non-parametric statistical analyses (p 0.05). The results pointed to a high agreement index between the examiners for HFD analyses, suggesting a positive reliability for the evaluative system herein utilized. BMI and age seemed to have a weak connection to the graphic elaboration, which was more influenced by sex ratio. The satisfaction with body image, as evaluated by the Scale of Satisfaction with the Body Image (SSBI), appeared to be weakly associated to sex and age and to be more influenced by the real body size. According to SSBI, underweight and normal weight groups presented higher satisfaction levels than those of the overweight and obese groups. The sum of the results indicated the informative constrains of the HFD, within the evaluation system employed, for assessing the components of body image in adults, and, on the other hand, indicated that SSBI is an efficient tool for detecting distinct satisfaction levels with body image in relation to real body size, reinforcing its informative possibilities regarding individual self-perception.

ASSUNTO(S)

Índice de massa corporal desenho da figura humana psychological evaluation avaliação psicológica imagem corporal human figure drawing obesidade body image obesity body mass index

ACESSO AO ARTIGO

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