Open AccessThe Perception of Malaysian Rural and Urban Indigenous Women on Body Image
Author(s) -
Emily Lau Kui-Ling,
Monna Kiaw,
Nurul Huda Hamzah,
Peter Sercombe
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
melayu/melayu : jurnal antarabangsa dunia melayu
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2682-8049
pISSN - 1675-6460
DOI - 10.37052/jm.14(2)no7
Subject(s) - underweight , indigenous , acculturation , mainstream , perception , anxiety , geography , socioeconomics , psychology , rural area , overweight , sociology , ethnic group , medicine , political science , body mass index , anthropology , ecology , pathology , neuroscience , psychiatry , law , biology
This study investigates the perception of body image among indigenous women in Peninsular Malaysia. Using a sample drawn from urban (n=38) and rural (n=21) settings, the study engages participants who are more or less socio-economically acculturated to mainstream society in order to explore different attitudes to body image, and anxiety level about social physique between rural and urban women. Rural indigenous women registered a higher level of body dissatisfaction than their urban counterparts. However, there was no significant difference in attitudes towards body image between indigenous women in both locations. Due to a degree of presumed acculturation to western ideals of body image, urban indigenous women who were not underweight showed a higher anxiety level concerning their physique than those from rural areas with a similar body size. It was also found that a higher level of body dissatisfaction correlated with a poorer body image among indigenous women in Malaysia.