The Relationship between Body Cathexis and Clothing Satisfaction

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between body cathexis and clothing satisfaction. The questionnaire was administered to 458 female college students in Daegu and Sangju and the results were obtained as follows. From the questionnaire, the 14 body parts were categorized into 4 factors, these being weight/girth, lower body, face, height/length. The bust girth was not included into one of these 4 factors. Subjects were dissatisfied with all of their body parts, especially with thigh, hip girth in the lower part of the body, as well as their weight. According to the Rohrer Index distribution, 99.2% of respondents were thin or normal, but means of respondents' satisfaction scores on weight and height were very low. To measure clothing satisfaction two factors were included, these being 'satisfaction with one's clothing selection ability' and 'satisfaction with one's own clothes'. The respondents were quite neutral on their clothing selection ability and their own clothes. Two factors about clothing satisfaction were correlated negatively. All of body cathexis factors were correlated positively with 'satisfaction with one's clothing selection ability' and were correlated slightly negatively with 'satisfaction with one's own clothes'.