The UCLA

Body Matrices II
David Frederick
Anne Peplau
UCLA Department of Psychology
Acknowledgements: Thanks to Jim Compton of SNSL Imagination for
assistance creating the UCLA Body Matrices
(SNSLimagination@aol.com)

Contact: David Frederick at enderflies1@aol.com. Available at the

following website: dred.bol.ucla.edu
 Problems in Measuring Body Satisfaction

 Women’s Bodies
 Forms used to assess women’s body types
confound body fat and breast size, or only
manipulate one of these features.

 Men’s Bodies
 Similarly, forms for men appear to confound
muscularity with body fat, or only manipulate one
of these features.

 Hand-Drawn Images
 All existing forms utilize crude hand-drawn
silhouettes of men and women.
Examples of Popular Female Reference
Forms
Examples of Popular Male Reference Forms
 The UCLA Body Matrices

 We introduce the UCLA Body Matrices as an improvement over

existing forms. These new matrices provide more levels of body
fat for women and muscularity for men

 The UCLA Matrix of Men systematically varies:

 4 levels of body fat, from slender (10)* to heavy (40)
 7 levels of muscularity, from non-muscular (10) to very
muscular (70)

 The UCLA Matrix of Women systematically varies:

 4 levels of breast size, from small (10) to large (40)

 8 levels of body fat, from slender (10) to heavy (80)

*The numbers correspond to equally spaced intervals according to the software used, not objective
measurements (e.g., not 10% body fat).
 Pick a Number vs. Scaled Versions
 Pick A Number Version:
 Each one of the images is numbered
 Participants are simply asked to indicate which image best
represents their current body, the ideal body, the typical
body, etc.
 The advantage is this version is very simple for participants

 Scaled Version
 Participants indicate which image best represents their
current body, etc., using a latitude-longitude system.
 This is more complex for participants but allows them to
indicate intermediate values (e.g., they can indicate that
their breast size is between levels 30 and 40).

 *Matrices can be viewed at:

http://dfred.bol.ucla.edu/UCLAbody.html
 Present Research
 1. Do rating of one’s current body, ideal body, and the
discrepancy between these ratings predict measures of:
 Body Mass (BMI)?
 Breast Cup Size
 Overall body satisfaction (Appearance Evaluation Scale; (Cash, 2000)?
 Drive for muscularity (McCreary & Sasse, 2000)?
 Breast size satisfaction (Forbes & Frederick, under review)

 2. Do people perceive a difference between their current and

their ideal body?

 3. Do people perceive a difference between the typical and

most attractive body type of the other sex?

 4. Do the measures show high test-retest reliability?

 Study 1: Pick A Number Version

 Participants were 102 men and 255 women in a

psychology class who participated in exchange for
extra credit.

 Mean Age = 18.94

 26% White, 41% Asian, 14% Hispanic, 19% Other.

 Validating the UCLA Body Matrices:
Association to BMI and Breast Size
 Linear Regressions predicting BMI
 Men (Muscularity and Body fat to BMI):

 Model R = .74

 Women (Breast Size and Body fat to BMI):

 Model R = .71

 Linear Regressions predicting cup size

 (Breast size and Body Fat self-reported cup size):

 Model R = .76
Association of Matrix Choices to Body Image
Appearance
Evaluation
(Higher = Better)
Women
Current Body Fat -.36***
Ideal Body Fat -.05
Fat Discrepancy -.38***
Current Breast Size .02
Ideal Breast Size -.03
Breast Discrepancy -.18**
Men
Current Body Fat -.37***
Ideal Body Fat -.12
Fat Discrepancy .44***
Current .43***
Muscularity .17
Ideal Muscularity -.27**
* The discrepancies are absolute values. For example, Fat Discrepancy = [ABS (current – ideal body fat level.)]
Men and Women’s Ratings of Female Body Fat
40

35

30
Women
25
Men
20

15

10
Current Ideal Typical Attractive
to Men
Women’s Ratings of Body Fat: Women perceived that their current body did not differ
from the typical body, but they were heavier than their ideal.
Men’s Ratings of Body Fat: Men perceived that the most attractive body was thinner
than the ideal body.
Men and Women’s Ratings of Female Breast Size
40

35

30
Women
25
Men
20

15

10
Current Ideal Typical Attractive
to Men
Women’s Ratings of Breast Size: Women did not perceive a difference between their
current breast size and the ideal breast size, but did desire larger ideal breasts.
Men’s Ratings of Breast Size: Men indicated that the typical breast size was smaller
than the ideal breast size.
 Men and Women’s Ratings of Male Body Fat
40

35

30
Women
25
Men
20

15

10
Current Ideal Typical Attractive
to Women
Men’s Ratings of Body Fat: Men perceived that they were slightly thinner than average,
and slightly heavier than their ideal.
Women’s Ratings of Body Fat: Women did not perceive a difference between the
typical and ideal level of body fat.
Men and Women’s Ratings of Male Muscularity
40

35

30
Women
25
Men
20

15

10
Current Ideal Typical Attractive
to Women
Men’s Ratings of Muscularity: Men perceived that they were slightly more muscular
than average, but were much less muscular than their ideal.
Women’s Ratings of Muscularity: Women indicated that the most attractive male body
was much more muscular than the typical male body.
 Study 2: Scaled Version

 Participants were 112 men and 122 women at local

campus hangouts who participated in exchange for
being entered in a lottery.

 Mean Age = 22.88

 40% White, 25% Asian, 12% Hispanic, 23% Other.

 Validating the UCLA Body Matrices:
Association to BMI and Breast Size
 Linear Regressions predicting BMI
 Men (Muscularity and Body fat to BMI):

 Model R = .73

 Women (Breast Size and Body fat to BMI):

 Model R = .67

 Linear Regressions predicting cup size

 (Breast size and Body Fat self-reported cup size):

 Model R = .76
Association of Matrix Choices to Body Image
Appearance Breast / Muscle
Evaluation Dissatisfaction
(Higher = Better) (Higher = Worse)
Women
Current Body Fat -.30*** -.11
Ideal Body Fat -.07 -.24**
Fat Discrepancy -.45*** .09
Current Breast Size -.13 -.42***
Ideal Breast Size -.12 -.08
Breast Discrepancy -.19* .51***
Men
Current Body Fat -.02 -.20*
Ideal Body Fat -.04 -.29**
Fat Discrepancy .00 -.04
Current .11 .26**
Muscularity .17** .42***
Ideal Muscularity .12 .21*
* The discrepancies are absolute values. For example, Fat Discrepancy = [ABS (current – ideal body fat level.)]
Men and Women’s Ratings of Female Body Fat
40

35

30
Women
25
Men
20

15

10
Current Ideal Typical Attractive
to Men
Women’s Ratings of Body Fat: Women did not perceive a difference between their body
and the typical body, but were heavier than their ideal body.
Men’s Ratings of Body Fat: Men indicated that the most attractive body was thinner
than the typical body.
Men and Women’s Ratings of Female Breast Size
40

35

30
Women
25
Men
20

15

10
Current Ideal Typical Attractive
to Men
Women’s Ratings of Breast Size: Women did not perceive a difference between their
current body and the typical body, but desired larger breasts.
Men’s Ratings of Breast Size: Men indicated that the most attractive breast size was
larger than the typical breast size.
 Men and Women’s Ratings of Male Body Fat
40

35

30
Women
25
Men
20

15

10
Current Ideal Typical Attractive
to Women
Men’s Ratings of Body Fat: Men believed they were slightly thinner than average, but
slightly heavier than their ideal.
Women’s Ratings of Body Fat: Women did not perceive a difference between the
typical and most attractive body fat level.
Men and Women’s Ratings of Male Muscularity
40

35

30
Women
25
Men
20

15

10
Current Ideal Typical Attractive
to Women
Men’s Ratings of Muscularity: Men perceived that they were slightly more muscular
than average, but much less muscular than their ideal body.
Women’s Ratings of Muscularity: Women indicated that the most attractive body was
more muscular than the typicial male body.
 Summary of Findings
 The results suggest that the matrices are useful
measures of body image and body type preferences.
Responses were:

 Strongly related to BMI and self-reported breast

cup-size

 Associated with global body satisfaction, and

breast size/muscularity satisfaction

 Congruent with past research on body type

preferences