The Adaptation Of The Standards Of Stice's Ideal Body Internalization To Chinese Culture: A Comparative Study Of Nationalities

Physical beauty is everyone's concern. The research on this subject abroad is being conducted very intensely. Adolescents are at the critical point of their physical and mental development so concern over the adaptation of the standards of ideal body internalization to Chinese culture plays a very important role in shaping Chinese beautiful images. Many researches at home have directly employed Stice's internalization scale to measure ideal body internalization. However, the adaptation of this scale to Chinese culture is far from comprehensive and extensive discussion. This paper explores the scale's adaptation to Chinese culture deeply by using questionnaires and various statistical approaches.In the summary of the literature involved, we analyze the shaping of ideal body and it's affecting factors and discusses the importance of internalization. Besides,we explores the adaptation of internalized ideal standards both in the culture of Han nationality and in the culture of Yi nationality, the choices of the items, the establishment of the dimensions, its correlation with ideal body as well as the features of age and gender in the two cultures. At last, the paper discusses similarities and differences in the scale's adaptation of the males and females in Han nationality and Yi nationality and analyzes the reasons. Thereby, it comes to the following conclusions:I. The structure of the women's internalization scale about Han students is highly correlated with the questionnaire of women's ideal body. This scale includes two dimensions: being curvy and healthy together with being tall and thin, containing nine statements. Han students think women's curvy and healthy dimension is more important than their tall and thin dimension, while Han boys care more about women's curvy and healthy dimension than Han girls. On the other hand, the differences in the tall and thin dimension of Han boys and girls are not distinct. But as Han students grow up, they pay more attention to women's tallness and thinness, yet they hold almost the same attitude towards women's curvy and healthy beauty.II. The structure of the men's IBIS scale about Han students is highly correlated with the questionnaire of men's ideal body. This scale includes two dimensions: being fit and muscular together with being tall and thin, containing seven statements. Han students think men's fit and muscular dimension is more important than their tall and thin dimension, while Han boys care more about men's fit and muscular dimension than Han girls. At the same time, they also pay more attention to men's tall and thin dimension than Han girls. But as Han students grow up, they show no noticeably different attitude towards men's fit and muscular beauty as well as their tallness and thinness.III. The correlation between the women's IBIS scale about Yi students with the questionnaire of women's ideal body, only a few dimensions is distinct, the other dimensions doesn't reach the distinct level. This scale includes three dimensions: being fit and healthy, being slim and curvy together with being tall and thin. Yi students care most about women's fit and healthy beauty. There are no gender or age differences in the women's internalization scale to Yi students.IV. The correlation between the men's IBIS scale about Yi students with the questionnaire of men's ideal body, only a few dimensions is distinct, the other dimensions doesn't reach the distinct level. This scale includes two dimensions: being strong and healthy together with being tall and thin. Yi students think men's strong and healthy dimension is more important than their tall and thin dimension, while Yi boys attach more importance to men's strong and healthy beauty together with their tallness and thinness than Yi girls. But then the older they grow, the less attention Yi people pay to their tallness and thinness; their attitude towards strong and healthy beauty doesn't change clearly with age.V. The women's IBIS scale reveals that Yi students pay more attention to women's slim and curvy beauty than Han students while they show no distinct differences in the other dimensions. The men's IBIS scale displays that Yi students pay more attention to men's strong and healthy beauty than Han students while they show no distinct differences in the other dimensions.