Antecedents of ideal body image and body dissatisfaction: The role of ethnicity, gender and age among the consumers in the USA

This study explores the extent perceived ideal body image by members of the opposite sex affects the perception of desired body size and body dissatisfaction of males and females across age and ethnic groups in the United States. A national survey was conducted with a total sample of 1,895 participants. A based-model is proposed to test the effect of gender, age, and ethnicity on consumers’ perception toward ideal body images and body dissatisfaction. Multigroup comparison analyses in SEM were run to test the variability of the models across samples. The results indicate that the existence of a gendered ideal body image among members of the opposite sex influences one’s perceptions of the desired ideal body for themselves, for members of the opposite sex, and one’s body dissatisfaction. In addition, these influential correlations were found to be significantly higher among females than males and significantly different across age and ethnic groups. These findings can help the fashion industry and health-related institutions in understanding that body dissatisfaction depends not only on the impact of the media but also on the perceived impact of others’ opinion, which differ among ethnic groups.