Ideal Body Image Assessment Among Japanese Women

ABSTRACT

Using the Contour Drawing Rating Scale, we examined the ideal body sizes of young Japanese women who resided in Tokyo. The results indicated that the relationship among the respondents' current, ideal, perceived male-peer, and perceived female-peer ideal body sizes were not necessarily the same across different body mass index levels. For example, the results revealed thatonly the heavier respondents seemed to consider their male-peer ideal body sizes as their own ideal body sizes. The findings also showed that although most participants wished to be slimmer, they believed that their same-sex peers wanted to be even thinner than themselves.