Skin-color preferences and body satisfaction among south asian-canadian and european-canadian female university students

Abstract

Skin-color preferences and body satisfaction among 100 South Asian-Canadian and 100 European-Canadian female university students were examined. South Asian-Canadian females were found to desire lighter skin than they possessed and had lower body satisfaction compared with European-Canadian females. Among South Asian-Canadians, the desire to be lighter skinned was greater the more participants differed from the cultural White ideal. Light- and medium-skinned South Asian-Canadians had the highest and lowest levels of body satisfaction, respectively. © 1997 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.