Both female and male students at NIU have common concerns regarding their low self-esteem when it comes to their body image, an NIU expert said.

“In speaking with students about body image, students often discuss how family, peers and the media influence their perception of their bodies and their body image,” said Anne Kubal, a counselor at the Counseling and Student Development Center.

Certain images within the media may also contribute to students’ body image.

Television shows like “The Swan” and “The Biggest Loser” give students the perception that the media emphasizes physical appearance and beauty as important components of happiness, Kubal said.

Some college students struggle to look at themselves in a positive way.

“College represents a time of significant transition and often represents the first time many students have lived away from home,” Kubal said. “Many students experience heightened levels of stress due to academics, in addition to feeling pressure to ‘fit in’ by looking like everyone else.”

Half of the teenagers surveyed by Rita Freedman, Ph.D, who wrote “Bodylove”, a book about self-esteem, said they felt ugly on a frequent basis, Kubal said. In the same survey, 45 percent of college-aged women felt good about their overall looks, and 75 percent of men felt good about their overall looks.

Women often learn to equate self-worth with physical appearance from the time they are small girls, according to Freedman’s work. Women also face unique challenges in regards to body image due to puberty, menstruation, pregnancy and menopause – all of which produce uncontrollable changes in physical appearance and can have a negative impact on body image.

Men are often reluctant to seek help for body image concerns because body image is inaccurately viewed as solely a “women’s issue,” Kubal said. It is a myth that men do not experience body image concerns.

“Self-confidence is a critical factor in body image,” Kubal said. “Studies suggest that body image tends to remain fairly consistent over time, but individuals often become less self-conscious about their appearance and more accepting of their appearance as they leave their teenage years and grow into adulthood.”

Helping students overcome negative body images is an individual process, Kubal said. She said she works with the individual to uncover the source of the negative body image and help them to realize that self-worth should not be based on weight and shape.

“Improvement of one’s body image is a gradual process,” Kubal said. “The goal is to help an individual become more accepting of the parts of their body they dislike. There are specific strategies that can be helpful, including recognizing that the ‘ideal’ body type for women promoted by our culture is unattainable for most women.”

The key to developing a positive body image is to recognize and respect our natural shape and learn to overpower those negative thoughts and feelings with positive, affirming and accepting ones, Kubal said.

Healthy lifestyle tips

– The average woman weighs 144 pounds and wears a size 12; the average model is 5’11″ and weighs 117 pounds.

– Eating disorders are dangerous and lead to death in at least 10 percent of those affected.

– Four out of five 10-year-olds are afraid of being fat.

– People spend over $40 billion on dieting and diet related products.

– Forty-five percent of healthy-weight women and 23 percent of healthy-weight men describe themselves as overweight.

Source: Counseling and Student Development Center