Introduction: One of the main reasons of doing exercise that some people discuss is to achieve and maintain optimal physical appearance to gain social acceptance. On the other hand, many people worry that how other people evaluate their physical appearance during exercise. They may refrain from participating in sport activities. Incentives, such as obtaining the desired physical appearance and gain approval from others in this field, have caused people to participate in sport activities. However, concerns about judging people on their physical appearance, reduce motivation to participate in sport activities. These motivations can affect body composition. Therefore, the need to evaluate the social physique anxiety and its related factors and attempt to fix the problem in society, especially among women who are more prone to this viewpoint, is necessary. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between body composition and physical activity with social physique anxiety among Staff of Alzahra University.
Methodology: The study population comprised of all female staff of University totaling 233. Of those, 135 were participated in this study. Stadiometer scale, body analyzer, Motl and Conroy 7-item Social physique questionnaire and International Physical Activity Questionnaire were used in this study. Data was analyzed with SPSS20 (Parametric tests and Pearson and Spearman correlation coefficient).
Results: The mean BMI was (25.6±0.97) kg/m2, the percentage of participants who were overweight was 40% (54 case), whereas 15.5% (21 case) of them were obese. 88 percent of overweight/obesity had no physical activity, 12 percent of them had the daily average of 10 minutes a day activities such as walking. Pearson correlation showed a significant positive correlation between body mass index (r=0.42), waist circumference(r=0.48), hip circumference(r=0.36), waist hip ratio (r=0.44), body fat mass (r=0.45) and weight (r=0.40) with social physique anxiety (p≤0.01). There were negative and significant correlation between social physique anxiety and physical activity (r=-0.83, p≤0.01).
Discussion: The result of this study showed the significant relationship between anthropometric characteristics and physical activity with social physique anxiety in Alzahra University Staff. Therefore, obesity and sedentary lifestyle are considered an important factor in increasing social physique anxiety.