The Prediction of General Health on the Basis of Body Image, Life Stress and Personality Characteristics
Subject Areas : Educational
1 - عضو هیأت علمی گروه روانشناسی دانشگاه تبریز
Keywords: General Health, Stress, body image, personality characteristics,
Abstract :
The aim of the present study was to predict students general health by body image, life stress and personality characteristics. The research employed a correlation study. 200 students were selected from different fields of Tabriz university through multistage random sampling. Scaling in Life Events (Paykel, et al, 1975), Multi-dimensional Inventory of body-self relation (Cash, 1994) personality Questionnaire (Eysenck, 1985) and General Health Questionnaire (Goldberg and Hillier. 1979) were used. Data analysed by Pearson correlation model and step by step regression analysis. The results showed that there is a significant correlation between psychological stresses and mental and general health in students, but there was no significant correlation between psychological stresses and body image, and three personality factors. Also, there was a significant negative correlation between general health and neuroticism and a significant positive correlation between general health and extraversion. Results of step by step regression analysis showed that only three variables of neuroticism, body image and psychological stress can predict students mental and physical health (P < 0.001). Also, extraversion and psychosis didn’t predict students mental health.
Amelang, M.., Hasselbach, P., Stürmer, T. (2004). Personality, cardiovascular disease, and cancer: first results from the Heidelberg cohort study of the elderly. Zeitschriftfür Gesundheitspsychologie; 12:102-15.
Aramats, C.A, Moran, L. & Sands, R.T. (2003). Gender differences in body image concerns and depression amongst Australian adolescents, The Abstracts of the 38th Conference of the Australian Psychological Society, 163.
Bramness, JG., Fixdal, TC., Vaglum, P. (1991). Effect of medical school stress on the mental health of medical students in early and late clinical curriculum. Acta Psychiatr Scand. 84(4), 340-5.
Bernardo, A., Ball, C., Nolasco, L., Choi, H., Moake, JL., Dong, JF. (2005). Platelets adhere to endothelial cell-bound ultra-large von Willebrand factor strings and support leukocyte tethering and rolling under high shear stress. Journal Thromb Hemost, 3: 562- 574.
Carlson, H.M., & Steuer, J. (1985). Age, sex-role categorization, and psychological health in American homosexual and heterosexual men and women. Journal of Social Psychology, 125, 203–211.
Cash, T.F., Theriault, J. & Milkewicz Annis, N. (2004). Body image in an interpersonal context: adult attachement, fear of intimacy, and social anxiety, Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 23(1):89 - 103.
Cash, T.F., Phillips, K.A., Santos, M.T., & Hrabosky, J.I. (2004). Measuring ‘‘negative body image’’: Validation of the Body Image Disturbance Questionnaire in a nonclinical population. Body Image: An International Journal of Research, 1, 363–372.
Cash, T.F. (1994b).The Situational Inventory of Body Image Dysphoria: Contextual assessment of a negative body image. The Behavior Therapist, 17, 133-134.
Cloninger, C.R., Przybeck, T.R., &Svrakic, D.M. (1991). The tridimensional personality questionnaire: U.S. normative data. Psychological Reports, 69, 1047-1057.
Cohen, S. and Williamson, G.M. (1991). Stress and infectious disease in humans. Psychological Bulletin, v109. pp. 5-24.
Corsini, R.J. (1999). The dictionary of psychology. Publishing office: Brunner/ Mazel.
Cooper, C.L., Sutherland, V.J. (1990). Cancer personality and stress. Journal of psychosomatic Research. 46, 769-787.
Eysenk, H.J. (1985). Personality and stress as a Causal factors in cancer and coronary heart disease. Journal of behaviour Research, 45, 877-991.
Eysenck, H.J. (1990). Biological dimensions of personality. In L.A. Pervin (Ed.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research (pp. 244-276). New York: Guilford.
Ferrario, S., Zotti, A., Masara, G., & Nuvolone, G. (2003). A comparative assessment of psychological and psychosocial characteristics of cancer patients and their caregivers. Psycho-Oncology. 11(4): 565–576.
Freda, I. & Gamze, A. (2004). Social phobia among university students and its relation to self-esteem and body-image, Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 49(9): 630-635.
Goldberg, D.P., & Hillier, V. (1979). A scaled version of General Health Questionnaire. Psychological Medicine, 9,131-145.
Hayes, N., Joseph, S. (2003). Big five correlates of three measures of subjective well–being. Personality and individual differences, 18, 663–668.
Headey, B., & Wearing, A. (1991). Subjective well-being a stocks and flows framework. In F. Strack, M. Argyle, & N. Schwartz (Eds.). Subjective well- being. Oxford: Pergamon.
Jorm, A.F. (1987) A Guide to the Understanding of Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders. New York University Press, Washington Square New York
Kornblau, I. S., Pearson, H.C., Breitkopf, C.R. (2007). Demographic, behavioral and physical correlates of body esteem among low-income female adolescents. Journal Adolesc Health; 41: 566-570.
Lazarus, R.S, Folkaman, S. (1984). Stress, appraisal and coping. New York: Springe: 127-139.
Leon, G.R., Lucas, A.R., Ferdinand, R.F. & Mangelsdorf, C, (1987). Attitudes about sexuality and other psychological characteristics as predictors of follow-up status in anorexia nervosa. International Journal of Eating Disorders. 6, 477-484.
McCrae, R.R., & Costa, P.T. (1986). Clinical assessment can benefit from recent advances in personality psychology. American Psychologist, 41, 1001–1003.
McCrae, R.R., Costa, P.T., Bush, C.M. (1984). Evaluating comperhensiveness in personality systems: The california Q-set and five- factor model. Journal of personality.2, 54-66.
Olsen J. (2012). Body Image. Dissertation summaries and abstracts.5(9), 192.
Patton, G.C., Selzer, R., Coffey, C., Carlin, J.B., & Wolfe, R. (1999). Onset of adolescent eating disorders: Population based cohort study over 3 years. British Medical Journal, 318, 765–768.
Paykel, ES., Prusoff, BA., Myersm JK. (1975). Suicide attempts and recent life events. A controlled comparison. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 32(3), 327–333
Sarafino, E.P. (2005). Health psychology: Biopsychosocial interactions. (5th Ed.). New York: Wiley.
Sujoldzic, A., Lucica, A.D. (2007). A cross-cultural study of adolescents-BMI, body image and psychological well-being. Coll Antropol; 31(1): 123-130.
Vrana, S., Lauterbach, D. (1994). Prevalence of traumatic events and post-traumatic psychological symptoms in a nonclinical sample of college students. J Trauma Stress; 7:289-302.
Webster, J., & Triggerman, M. (2003). The relationship between womens body satisfaction and self- image across the life span: The role of cognitive control. Journal of Genetic psychology, (46C2), 241-253.
World Health Organization. (2000). Health systems: Improving performance. Geneva: WHO, The World Health Report.
