The Role of Body Image in Older Women's Leisure (Report‪)‬

Introduction Body image refers to a person's attitudes toward and evaluations of his or her body (Cash, 2004). Most body image literature has focused on younger women and girls with only a small fraction addressing older women (Clarke, 2002). The literature that exists, however, suggests that body image is experienced and processed differently by older women than younger women (Peat, Peyerl, & Muehlenkamp, 2008). For example, some research suggests that older women place less importance on appearance than younger women and are less likely to experience negative outcomes of poor body image such as eating disorders (Ferraro, et al., 2008). Because women experience physical and attitudinal changes across the life course, we cannot assume that body image research conducted among younger women is generalizable to older women (Whitbourne & Skultety, 2002). Therefore, additional research is needed to understand older women's body image and its role in their lives (Hurd, 2000).