Physical attraction measured by use of a body figure scale in an age of changing body ideals: An age discriminated sample from a regional Australian city.

There is a substantial body of research that uses figure rating scales for personal body image assessment and satisfaction where typically women self-identify as heavier than what they wish to be, and men self-identify as less muscular than what they wish to be. The aim of this research was to determine the difference in attractiveness of physical body image by age of men and women, where it was hypothesised that younger age groups would be more likely to identify more mesomorphic or muscular images as more attractive due to social media images and the “fitspiration” phenomenon. 460 participants who were representative of the population of a major Australian regional city were sampled using face-to-face interviews and made selections using a computer-based survey tool. Although the results of this study did not support the hypothesis, women were found likely to identify thin images of women as more attractive to men; and men were found likely to identify more muscular images of men as more attractive to women. These findings have implications for clinical treatments related to body image, eating disorders, and compulsive exercise.