Masters Thesis

Body image in a group exercise setting: a comparison of exercise interventions

College students often report poor body image and increased levels of social physique anxiety. Exercise has been shown to be a factor that can influence body image and social physique anxiety. This study examined the effects of strength, aerobic, and stretch-based group-exercise interventions on body image and levels of social physique anxiety in college-aged individuals (N=165) throughout the course of an entire semester at California State University, Chico. A repeated mixed model ANOVA was utilized to examine change over time comparing comparison and experimental groups as well as examining changes within different exercise conditions. There were significant differences in body image scores among the different exercise conditions by class type, but not by time. Converse to existing research, it was found that there were no significant changes in social physique anxiety in both control and experimental groups, and no significant differences in scores among the different exercise conditions. BMI and prior group exercise experience did not influence outcomes for social physique anxiety and body image.

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