Impact of today's media on university student's body image in Pakistan: a conservative, developing country's perspective

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Living in a world greatly controlled by mass media makes it impossible to escape its pervading influence. As media in Pakistan has been free in the true sense of the word for only a few years, its impact on individuals is yet to be assessed. Our study aims to be the first to look at the effect media has on the body image of university students in a conservative, developing country like Pakistan. Also, we introduced the novel concept of body image dissatisfaction as being both negative and positive.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A cross-sectional study was conducted among 7 private universities over a period of two weeks in the city of Karachi, Pakistan's largest and most populous city. Convenience sampling was used to select both male and female undergraduate students aged between 18 and 25 and a sample size of 783 was calculated.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Of the 784 final respondents, 376 (48%) were males and 408 (52%) females. The mean age of males was 20.77 (+/- 1.85) years and females was 20.38 (+/- 1.63) years. Out of these, 358 (45.6%) respondents had a positive BID (body image dissatisfaction) score while 426 (54.4%) had a negative BID score. Of the respondents who had positive BID scores, 93 (24.7%) were male and 265 (65.0%) were female. Of the respondents with a negative BID score, 283 (75.3%) were male and 143 (35.0%) were female. The results for BID vs. media exposure were similar in both high and low peer pressure groups. Low media exposure meant positive BID scores and vice versa in both groups (p < 0.0001) showing a statistically significant association between high media exposure and negative body image dissatisfaction. Finally, we looked at the association between gender and image dissatisfaction. Again a statistically significant association was found between positive body image dissatisfaction and female gender and negative body image dissatisfaction and male gender (p < 0.0001).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our study confirmed the tendency of the media to have an overall negative effect on individuals' body image. A striking feature of our study, however, was the finding that negative body image dissatisfaction was found to be more prevalent in males as compared to females. Likewise, positive BID scores were more prevalent amongst females.</p

Tworzenie „zielonych” przestrzeni publicznych drogą do rewitalizacji miejskich dzielnic mieszkalno-przemysłowych

Optimization of the urban structure, as well as modernization of city districts as a result of changes in the functional use of the urban territory, are currently coming to the fore among research topics for most cities in Eastern Europe. In the present article, as seen in the example of the Pidzamche district of the city of Lviv (Ukraine), attention was drawn to the need of revitalising the already urbanized, often postindustrial areas, which had lost their original function over time. The developmental impetus for this area may arrive by way of “green” public spaces project, which will affect the “quality of life” for the local residents, through: performing recreational and leisure functions, raising the aesthetic value of the place, as well as potentially constituting so-called “green corridors”, connecting individual parts of the discussed area.Optymalizacja struktury miejskiej oraz modernizacja dzielnic w wyniku zmiany funkcjonalnego wykorzystania terytorium miasta staje się obecnie powszechnym tematem badań dla większości miast Wschodniej Europy. W artykule, na przykładzie dzielnicy Lwowa (Ukrainа)- Podzamcze zwrócono uwagę na potrzebę ożywienia terenów już zurbanizowanych, często poprzemysłowych, które z czasem zatraciły swoje funkcje. Impulsem rozwojowym dla tego obszaru może stać się projekt „zielonych” przestrzeni publicznych, które wpłyną na „jakość życia” mieszkańców dzielnicy, poprzez: pełnienie funkcji rekreacyjno-wypoczynkowych, podnoszenie waloru estetycznego miejsca jak również mogą stanowić tzw. „zielone korytarze” łączące poszczególne części omawianego obszaru