Browsing by Subject "ulkonäköihanteet"

Nowadays young people live in a time where culture has become more and more appearance-focused. Thinness and muscularity have increased to cultural ideals for appearance. Adolescents are vulnerable to the images about appearance ideals which are produced by social media. It creates concerns to young people’s pressures of appearance. In puberty adolescent’s body change and they compare themselves to ‘perfect bodies’ that they have seen. If young people’s ideals and perceptions about their own body don´t confront, identity and body image will be disturbed. In adolescence also the amount of exercise decreases, and a certain type of exercise behaviour is beginning to develop a habit. In the background young people’s exercising is influenced by different reasons for exercise. In order to understand young people’s exercise behaviour, it’s important to investigate the reasons which get adolescents to exercise. In this literature review the reasons for exercise are compared to the cultural change in appearance ideals, and the aim is to study the possible change of young people’s appearance-based reasons for exercise from 1980s to the present. In addition, this study intends to describe the differences between girls and boys in appearance-based reasons for exercise. The aim is to broaden the view that appearance pressures concern equally also boys, even though there are more research from girls. Moreover, this literature review intends to find connections between young people’s body image and appearance-based reasons for exercise. The study was performed as a qualitative literature review, involving domestic and foreign studies. Based on this literature review, it can be stated that appearance-based reasons for exercise had become more important for young people from the 1980s to the present. Girls and boys considered different appearance related exercise reasons to be important: for girls appearance and weight management, while for boys physical growth, such as muscle growth and sporty appearance. Appearance-based reasons for exercise were related to the negative body image. However, it’s unsure whether the appearance-based exercise reasons cause body dissatisfaction, or whether body dissatisfaction increases appearance-based reasons for exercise. In any case, the development and support of a positive body image and appropriate reasons for exercise (such as joy and association) are important when creating a permanent physically active way of life for young people.