Body Appreciation

Abstract

This chapter reviews body appreciation, which involves holding favorable opinions of the body regardless of actual physical appearance, accepting the body despite perceived imperfections, respecting the body by attending to its needs and engaging in healthy behaviors, and protecting the body by rejecting unrealistic societal appearance ideals. The chapter first presents the measurement of this construct, the original and revised Body Appreciation Scale (the BAS and BAS-2), which yield evidence of reliability and validity in samples across different cultures. Next, the chapter reviews the research on body appreciation, documenting its adaptive links to many indices of psychological well-being and physical health, such as positive affect; life satisfaction; intuitive eating; self-compassion; physical activity (yoga, modern and belly dance); sexual and reproductive health; and physical self-care. Its role as a protective factor against media exposure is also discussed. Last, clinical considerations and directions for future research are presented.