An assessment on media image and its impact on body satisfaction and nutrition status of professional female volleyball players

This study was conducted between January 2019 and March 2019 on 100 women aged between 18-30 who voluntarily agreed to participate in the study and who were playing volleyball professionally in teams affiliated to the Turkish Volleyball Federation, in order to determine the media image and its impact on body satisfaction and nutrition status of female volleyball players. General characteristics of female volleyball players and their nutritional habits, use of food supplement products and physical activity levels were recorded with a questionnaire prepared by the researcher and applied by face-to-face interview method. Anthropometric measurements of the players were conducted and their body compositions were determined with Bioelectric Impedance Analysis (BIA) Tanita BC-418 and their body mass indexes (BMI) were calculated. 24-hour retrospective nutrient consumption and 24 hours of physical activity records were taken from female volleyball players to assess their nutritional status. The "Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Scale (SATAQ-3)" was used in order to evaluate the media image of women volleyball players. The scales namely "Fox Body Attractiveness Subscale of Physical Self-Perception Profile (PSPP)" and "Body Parts and Properties Satisfaction Scale" were used for determining the volleyball players' level of satisfaction with their own appearance. Statistical analyses were performed in SPSS 20.0 program. The average age of female volleyball players in the study was 24.3±3.55 years. The body mass index (BMI) of female volleyball players was 20.7±1.48 kg/m2 on average. A statistically significant negative relationship was found between "feeling pressure from the media", which is the sub-dimension of the SATAQ-3, and "body attractiveness", which is the sub-dimension of the "Fox Body Attractiveness Subscale of Physical Self-Perception Profile", in female volleyball players. It was observed that the players' feeling their body attractive decreased as media pressure increased in female volleyball players (p<0.05). A statistically significant negative relationship was found between players trying to look like the celebrities in the media and "sports talent and body attractiveness" which is the sub-dimension of the "Fox Body Attractiveness Subscale of Physical Self-Perception Profile" (p<0.05). It was found that the female volleyball players who participated in the study feel their bodies less attractive as much as they compare themselves with the celebrities in the media (p<0.05). No significant relationship was found between the sub-dimensions of the "Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Scale" and the "Body Parts and Properties Satisfaction Scale" in female players (p>0.05). It was observed that the percentage of energy (%) coming from the calories (kcal), carbohydrate (g), protein (g), protein (%), fat (%), fiber (g) and polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) intake of the female volleyball players on the training day was significantly higher when compared to the days without training (p<0.05). It was found that the difference between the energy requirement of players on the training day and the energy intake was 295.5±399.73 kcal on average. It has been determined that female volleyball players do not receive enough energy to meet their energy needs. As a result, media image can be an important risk factor for increased body dissatisfaction, impaired body perception and formation of a negative body image in female players. Keywords: Media Image, body image, body perception, body dissatisfaction.