Sociological Explanation of Body Management among Female Athletes

In current study, using the theories of Foucault, Gaffman, Weber and other feminists, the sociological analysis of the factors associated with body management has been addressed. The statistical population includes Tabriz women and girls who were members of the city sports clubs, at the time of the research. A randomized, multi-stage cluster sampling method was used to select 377 people and data was collected through a researcher-made questionnaire. Based on the results, mean body management in the samples was 89 and subsequently the rate of body management in the 80% of respondents is moderate to high. The results of bivariate analysis also indicate that body management varies according to some variables such as age, marital status, education, job status, and income. In addition, there is a reverse relationship between both gender roles and religiosity with body management, and direct and significant relationship between the variable of sense of regulatory pressure and body management. Based on the path analysis, the variables of religiosity and the sense of normative pressure, both directly and through influencing the gender roles, have affected the level of body management. Generally, these variables can predict 35.5% of body management changes.