Objective Anthropometry Poorly Predicts Body Image: Challenging Conventional Body-Shape Typologies through Evidence from Nigerian Undergraduate Women

Résumé

Objective Conventional body-shape typologies such as “pear,” “apple,” and “hourglass” are widely used to classify female body morphology and are often linked to assumptions about attractiveness, femininity, and self-perception. Empirical evidence of the psychological relevance of these morphology-based classifications, however, is still scarce, especially in non-Western populations. This study examined the extent to which objective anthropometric measures and categorical body-shape classifications predict body image and evaluated whether discrete morphometric classes emerge empirically among Nigerian undergraduate women. Methods This was a descriptive analytic cross sectional study of 150 nulliparous female undergraduate students between the ages of 16–25 years in south eastern Nigeria. Standard anthropometric measurements were taken, and waist–hip ratio, waist–height ratio and bust–waist ratio were calculated. The 34 item Body and Breast Shape Questionnaire (BSQ) was used to determine body image. Multivariable heteroscedasticity-robust regression models, effect size analyses (η 2 ), analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) adjusted marginal means, and Gaussian mixture modeling were used for evaluating the predictive contribution and latent structure of anthropometric variation. Results There was very little variance in body image outcomes accounted for by objective anthropometric variables and categorical body-shape classifications (R 2 = 0.03). None of the anthropometric predictors alone predicted BSQ scores and all observed effect sizes were trivial (η 2 = .002–.016). Adjusted marginal means showed that there was significant overlap between each of the morphological categories, with Gaussian mixture modeling showing support for a single continuous morphometric structure instead of distinct latent classes. Conclusions Objective anthropometry demonstrated negligible predictive contribution to body image in this cohort, while conventional body-shape typologies lacked meaningful psychological explanatory value. These findings challenge morphology-driven interpretations of body image and support sociocultural and cognitive-behavioral frameworks that emphasize the role of culturally mediated meaning and self-perception over objective bodily morphology.

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