Perceptualand Motor Skills, 1991, 72, 91-95. O Perceptual and Motor Skills 1991
PHYSICAL FITNESS, BODY IMAGE, AND LOCUS O F CONTROL IN COLLEGE WOMEN DANCERS AND NONDANCERS ' DANIEL D. ADAME, SALLY A. RADELL AND THOMAS C. JOHNSON Emory University STEVEN P. COLE
Research Design Associates, Inc., Decatur, Georgia Summary.-This study assessed the correlations among measures of physical fitness, body image and locus of control in college freshman women dancers and nondancers. 39 students enrolled in courses in modern, ballet, and jazz dance, and 120 students enrolled in an introductory personal health course were administered the Hall Physical Fitness Test Profile, the Winstead and Cash 54-item short-form Body Selfrelations Questionnaire (BSRQ), and the Adult Nowicki-Strickland Locus of Control Scale. Analysis showed dancers were more physically fit, scored more positively on the BSRQ physical fitness and health domains, and were more internal in their locus of control than the nondancers. There was no significant difference between dancers and nondancers on the BSRQ appearance domain. The significant positive correlation between BSRQ health and physical fitness among dancers was not observed among nondancers. The significant positive correlation for BSRQ appearance and health was noted for nondancers but not for dancers.
Experiences in dance have been described as producing positive changes in individuals' body images (Alperson, 1974; Smith, 1968; Hawkins, 1964). According to Schilder (1950), body image is "the picture of our own body which we form in our mind . . . [it is] the way in which the body appears to ourselves" (p. 11). Body image is the perception we have of ourselves; it is our body concept (Adame, Frank, Serdula, Cole, & Abbas, in press). Alperson (1974) found that as a consequence of movement experiences, individuals reported increases in ". . . vit&ty, self-awareness, individuation, integration, and greater effectiveness in relating to [the environment]" (p. 161). Empirical investigations have explored the relationship between dance and body image. Dasch (1978) found that high dance performance was associated with positive body cathexis and internal locus of control among college dance students. Other studies, however, have yielded contrary results. P m t z (1978), using Fisher and Cleveland's (1968) Barrier Score, Secord and Jourard's (1953) Body Cathexis Scale, and Nelson and Allen's (1970) Movement Satisfaction Scale, found no significant change in college students' body image as a result of participating in courses in modern dance. In a follow-up study, Puretz (1982), using the Secord and Jourard (1953) Body --
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'Address correspondence to D. D. Adame, Department of Health and Physical Education, Emory University, Woodruff Physical Education Center, Atlanta, GA 30322.
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Cathexis Scale, again .reported no significant improvement in college students' body image after taking courses in dance. Other researchers have examined the relations among physical performance, body image, and locus of control in nondancers. Adame, Johnson, and Cole (1989), using the Winstead and Cash (1984) 54-item short-form Body Self-relations Questionnaire (BSRQ), reported that physically fit college men and women nondancers had positive attitudes toward the physical fitness component of their body image. In addition, women with positive BSRQ health and fitness scores tended to be more internal in their locus of control. The purpose of the present study was to (a) assess the relations among actual physical fitness scores, and scores on body image, and locus of control in a group of college women enrolled in courses in dance and (b) compare physical fitness scores, body image, and locus of control scores of college women dancers and nondancers.
METHOD Thirty-nine college freshman women enrolled in courses in modern, ballet, and jazz dance were administered the Hall (1986) Physical Fitness Test Profile, the Winstead and Cash (1984) 54-item short-form Body Self-relations Questionnaire (BSRQ), and the Adult Nowicki-Strickland Locus of Control Scale (Nowicki & Duke, 1974). The Physical Fitness Test Profile includes measures on resting heart rate, blood pressure, height, weight, muscle strength, percent body fat composition, flexibility, muscle endurance, and aerobic power. The components of the Physical Fitness Test Profile are scored as follows: percent body fat, 25 points; grip strength, 5 points; muscle endurance, 10 points; flexibility, 10 points; heart rate, 5 points; systolic blood pressure, 5 points; diastolic blood pressure, 5 points; and aerobic power, 35 points. The Body Self-relations Questionnaire assesses perceptions of body image in three domains: physical appearance, physical fitness, and physical health. In the current study the internal consistency as measured by Cronbach's alpha for these three BSRQ domains were .85, .90, and 3 6 , respectively. The Nowicki-Strickland Internal-External Scale assesses the construct of locus of control of reinforcement as a perception of a connection between a person's action and its consequences. An internally controlled person perceives she is in control of what happens; a person of external control feels that what happens is the result of luck, fate, chance, or ~owerful others. Garner, Garfinkel, Rockert, and Olmstead (1987) found that 25.7% of a sample of 35 ballet students enrolled in a "professional calibre, highly competitive ballet school" had anorexia nervosa and 14.2% had bulimia nervosa. Other researchers (Hamilton, Brooks-Gunn, & Warren, 1985) report similar findings. In addition, according to Thompson (1990), ballet dancers must meet rigid weight and body shape requirements. The dance students in
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our study had no such rigorous requirements and were therefore different from dance students attending professional dance schools. The dance students in the current study primarily ranged from the beginning to advanced beginning levels with a few intermediate to advanced students. These level assessments apply to a nonmajor university dance program. The mean number of months of dance experience for these dancers was 83.2, with a standard deviation of 68.1. The data for the dancers were collected simultaneously with the data for 120 college women nondancers. The nondancers were enrolled in an introductory personal health course and had no current or prior formal training in dance. See Adame, Johnson, and Cole (1989) for a more detailed description of these nondancers. Data were collected in the sixth week of a 15-wk. semester. RESULTS Mean age of the dancers was 18.6 yr. and was 18.0 yr. for the nondancers. The age range for all subjects was 17 to 21 yr. There were no statistically significant correlations between dancing experience and physical fitness, body image or locus of control. Mean physical fitness, body image, and locus of control values for dancers and nondancers are presented in Table 1. Dancers were more physically fit, more positive about the BSRQ physical fitness and health domains, and more internal in their locus of control than the nondancers. There was no significant difference between dancers and nondancers on the BSRQ appearance domain. TABLE 1 MEANSA N D STANDARD DEVIATIONS Measure Physicd Fitness BSRQ Appearance BSRQ Fitness BSRQ Health Locus of Control *p
PHYSICAL FITNESS, BODY IMAGE, AND LOCUS O F CONTROL IN COLLEGE WOMEN DANCERS AND NONDANCERS ' DANIEL D. ADAME, SALLY A. RADELL AND THOMAS C. JOHNSON Emory University STEVEN P. COLE
Research Design Associates, Inc., Decatur, Georgia Summary.-This study assessed the correlations among measures of physical fitness, body image and locus of control in college freshman women dancers and nondancers. 39 students enrolled in courses in modern, ballet, and jazz dance, and 120 students enrolled in an introductory personal health course were administered the Hall Physical Fitness Test Profile, the Winstead and Cash 54-item short-form Body Selfrelations Questionnaire (BSRQ), and the Adult Nowicki-Strickland Locus of Control Scale. Analysis showed dancers were more physically fit, scored more positively on the BSRQ physical fitness and health domains, and were more internal in their locus of control than the nondancers. There was no significant difference between dancers and nondancers on the BSRQ appearance domain. The significant positive correlation between BSRQ health and physical fitness among dancers was not observed among nondancers. The significant positive correlation for BSRQ appearance and health was noted for nondancers but not for dancers.
Experiences in dance have been described as producing positive changes in individuals' body images (Alperson, 1974; Smith, 1968; Hawkins, 1964). According to Schilder (1950), body image is "the picture of our own body which we form in our mind . . . [it is] the way in which the body appears to ourselves" (p. 11). Body image is the perception we have of ourselves; it is our body concept (Adame, Frank, Serdula, Cole, & Abbas, in press). Alperson (1974) found that as a consequence of movement experiences, individuals reported increases in ". . . vit&ty, self-awareness, individuation, integration, and greater effectiveness in relating to [the environment]" (p. 161). Empirical investigations have explored the relationship between dance and body image. Dasch (1978) found that high dance performance was associated with positive body cathexis and internal locus of control among college dance students. Other studies, however, have yielded contrary results. P m t z (1978), using Fisher and Cleveland's (1968) Barrier Score, Secord and Jourard's (1953) Body Cathexis Scale, and Nelson and Allen's (1970) Movement Satisfaction Scale, found no significant change in college students' body image as a result of participating in courses in modern dance. In a follow-up study, Puretz (1982), using the Secord and Jourard (1953) Body --
--
'Address correspondence to D. D. Adame, Department of Health and Physical Education, Emory University, Woodruff Physical Education Center, Atlanta, GA 30322.
92
D. D. ADAME, ET AL.
Cathexis Scale, again .reported no significant improvement in college students' body image after taking courses in dance. Other researchers have examined the relations among physical performance, body image, and locus of control in nondancers. Adame, Johnson, and Cole (1989), using the Winstead and Cash (1984) 54-item short-form Body Self-relations Questionnaire (BSRQ), reported that physically fit college men and women nondancers had positive attitudes toward the physical fitness component of their body image. In addition, women with positive BSRQ health and fitness scores tended to be more internal in their locus of control. The purpose of the present study was to (a) assess the relations among actual physical fitness scores, and scores on body image, and locus of control in a group of college women enrolled in courses in dance and (b) compare physical fitness scores, body image, and locus of control scores of college women dancers and nondancers.
METHOD Thirty-nine college freshman women enrolled in courses in modern, ballet, and jazz dance were administered the Hall (1986) Physical Fitness Test Profile, the Winstead and Cash (1984) 54-item short-form Body Self-relations Questionnaire (BSRQ), and the Adult Nowicki-Strickland Locus of Control Scale (Nowicki & Duke, 1974). The Physical Fitness Test Profile includes measures on resting heart rate, blood pressure, height, weight, muscle strength, percent body fat composition, flexibility, muscle endurance, and aerobic power. The components of the Physical Fitness Test Profile are scored as follows: percent body fat, 25 points; grip strength, 5 points; muscle endurance, 10 points; flexibility, 10 points; heart rate, 5 points; systolic blood pressure, 5 points; diastolic blood pressure, 5 points; and aerobic power, 35 points. The Body Self-relations Questionnaire assesses perceptions of body image in three domains: physical appearance, physical fitness, and physical health. In the current study the internal consistency as measured by Cronbach's alpha for these three BSRQ domains were .85, .90, and 3 6 , respectively. The Nowicki-Strickland Internal-External Scale assesses the construct of locus of control of reinforcement as a perception of a connection between a person's action and its consequences. An internally controlled person perceives she is in control of what happens; a person of external control feels that what happens is the result of luck, fate, chance, or ~owerful others. Garner, Garfinkel, Rockert, and Olmstead (1987) found that 25.7% of a sample of 35 ballet students enrolled in a "professional calibre, highly competitive ballet school" had anorexia nervosa and 14.2% had bulimia nervosa. Other researchers (Hamilton, Brooks-Gunn, & Warren, 1985) report similar findings. In addition, according to Thompson (1990), ballet dancers must meet rigid weight and body shape requirements. The dance students in
93
FITNESS, BODY IMAGE I N DANCERS
our study had no such rigorous requirements and were therefore different from dance students attending professional dance schools. The dance students in the current study primarily ranged from the beginning to advanced beginning levels with a few intermediate to advanced students. These level assessments apply to a nonmajor university dance program. The mean number of months of dance experience for these dancers was 83.2, with a standard deviation of 68.1. The data for the dancers were collected simultaneously with the data for 120 college women nondancers. The nondancers were enrolled in an introductory personal health course and had no current or prior formal training in dance. See Adame, Johnson, and Cole (1989) for a more detailed description of these nondancers. Data were collected in the sixth week of a 15-wk. semester. RESULTS Mean age of the dancers was 18.6 yr. and was 18.0 yr. for the nondancers. The age range for all subjects was 17 to 21 yr. There were no statistically significant correlations between dancing experience and physical fitness, body image or locus of control. Mean physical fitness, body image, and locus of control values for dancers and nondancers are presented in Table 1. Dancers were more physically fit, more positive about the BSRQ physical fitness and health domains, and more internal in their locus of control than the nondancers. There was no significant difference between dancers and nondancers on the BSRQ appearance domain. TABLE 1 MEANSA N D STANDARD DEVIATIONS Measure Physicd Fitness BSRQ Appearance BSRQ Fitness BSRQ Health Locus of Control *p
