Impact of body and orofacial appearance on life satisfaction among Brazilian adults

Lucas Arrais Campos; Juliana Alvares Duarte Bonini Campos; Wanderson Roberto da Silva; Timo Peltomäki; Ary Dos Santos Pinto; João Marôco

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0275728

Impact of body and orofacial appearance on life satisfaction among Brazilian adults

PLoS One. 2022 Nov 4;17(11):e0275728. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0275728. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Lucas Arrais Campos^{1

2

3}, Juliana Alvares Duarte Bonini Campos⁴, Wanderson Roberto da Silva^{4

5}, Timo Peltomäki^{1

2

6

7}, Ary Dos Santos Pinto³, João Marôco⁸

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland.
² Department of Ear and Oral Diseases, Tampere University Hospital, Tampere, Finland.
³ School of Dentistry, Campus Araraquara, São Paulo State University (UNESP), São Paulo, Brazil.
⁴ School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, São Paulo State University (UNESP), São Paulo, Brazil.
⁵ Postgraduate Program in Nutrition and Longevity, Alfenas Federal University, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
⁶ Faculty of Health Sciences, Institute of Dentistry, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland.
⁷ Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Diseases, Kuopio University Hospital, Kuopio, Finland.
⁸ William James Center for Research (WJCR), ISPA-Instituto Universitário, Lisbon, Portugal.

Abstract

Aims: 1. to elaborate a general model of physical appearance taking into account body image (BI) and orofacial appearance (OA) components; and 2. to evaluate the impact of BI and OA on life satisfaction among Brazilian adults.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional observational study. The cognitive, behavioral, affective, and satisfaction/dissatisfaction aspects of BI, the satisfaction and psychosocial impact of OA, and life satisfaction were evaluated by self-reported psychometric scales. Principal Component Analysis and Parallel Analysis were performed. Structural equation models were elaborated to estimate the impact of BI and OA on life satisfaction. The fit of the models was verified and the significance of the path estimates (β) was evaluated using z-tests (α = 5%).

Results: A total of 1,940 individuals participated in the study (age: mean = 24.8, standard deviation = 5.7 years; females = 70.1%). In the male sample, three physical appearance factors were retained (OA, cognitive and behavioral components of BI, and affective and satisfaction/dissatisfaction components of BI). In the female sample, two factors were retained (OA and all components of BI). All factors had significant impact on life satisfaction (β = |0.26|-|0.48|, p<0.001) in both samples. Individuals dissatisfied with BI and OA had lower levels of life satisfaction. For men, the affective and satisfaction components of BI had a greater impact on life satisfaction (β = 0.48, p<0.001) than the other factors (β =] -0.30;-0.25[, p<0.001). For women, both BI and OA had a similar impact (BI: β = -0.30, p<0.001; OA: β = -0.32, p<0.001).

Conclusion: BI and OA formed distinct clusters in the physical appearance evaluation. Physical appearance was perceived differently by men and women, fostering discussion about the sociocultural construction of the body. BI and OA had a significant impact on life satisfaction and should be considered in assessment and treatment protocols.

Copyright: © 2022 Campos et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Publication types

Observational Study
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adult
Body Image / psychology
Brazil
Child, Preschool
Cross-Sectional Studies
Female
Humans
Male
Personal Satisfaction*
Physical Appearance, Body*

Grants and funding

This study was supported by the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) in the form a grant [2020/13153-3] and grants to WRdS [2017/20315-7], LAC [2018/06739-1], and JADBC [2019/19590-9], and by the William James Center for Research at ISPA, Instituto Universitário, in the form of funds to JM [UID/04810/2020]. This study was also supported in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES), Brasil, in the form of funds to LAC [Finance Code 001]. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.