Dataset and Supplementary Materials version 2 for: “Objective Anthropometry Poorly Predicts Body Image: Challenging Conventional Body-Shape Typologies through Evidence from Nigerian Undergraduate Women

This study investigated the extent to which objective anthropometric characteristics predict body image among Nigerian undergraduate women and examined the validity of conventional body-shape typologies as psychologically meaningful constructs. Using a descriptive analytic cross-sectional design, standardized anthropometric measurements were obtained from 150 nulliparous female undergraduate students aged 16–25 years recruited from two public universities in southeastern Nigeria. Derived morphometric indices including body mass index (BMI), waist–hip ratio (WHR), waist–height ratio (WHtR), bust–waist ratio, and hip–waist difference were analyzed alongside categorical body-shape and breast-shape classifications.

Body image outcomes were assessed using the 34-item Body and Breast Shape Questionnaire (BSQ). Multivariable heteroscedasticity-robust regression models, effect size analyses (η²), ANCOVA-adjusted marginal means, and Gaussian mixture modeling were applied to evaluate the predictive contribution of objective morphology and to test whether discrete morphometric classes emerge empirically.

Findings demonstrated that objective anthropometric measures explained only minimal variance in body image outcomes (R² ≈ 0.03), while categorical body-shape typologies exhibited trivial effect sizes. Latent mixture modeling supported a continuous rather than discrete morphometric structure. Collectively, the results challenge morphology-driven interpretations of body image and support sociocultural and psychological models emphasizing the role of internalized meaning, identity, and cultural context in shaping body-related self-perception.

This repository contains the anonymized study dataset, STROBE checklist, and supplementary materials supporting the findings of the manuscript.