Abstract
The purpose of this study was to compare Korean and Japanese female college students' body sizes, their perceptions about body size, and body satisfaction based on similar cultural background. Subjects consisted of 185 Korean students and 91 Japanese students from October to December, 2000. The age range was 18 to 28 years. We measured body sizes of subjects directly and examined by questionnaire the degree of body cathexis, perceived body size, ideal body size. The results were as followed. 1) Korean women had slimmer silhouette with longer arm and longer leg than Japanese, while Japanese women had more voluminous silhouette with smaller waist circumstance and bigger hip circumstance than Korean. 2) There were not differences between perception about each body size of the Korean women and Japanese women, except arm length. Especially, two groups felt themselves as greater on thigh. 3) There were not differences between satisfaction about body of Korean women and Japanese women, except height. Generally, two groups had lower body satisfaction on each body area, especially on thigh, lower body part, abdomen, hip, and weight. 4) Perception of body size had higher correlation with body satisfaction than actual body size. Lower satisfaction was related to more negative perception of body size. 5) Regarding ideal body size, Korean women pursued bigger height, weight, waist, and hip than Japanese. However, Japanese women pursued bigger bust than Korean. This means that Japanese women pursued more voluminous body silhouette.
