Imagem corporal de homens militares

Abstract

Body image is a mental representation of bodily experiences. This construct is multidimensional, systemic and dynamic, influenced by the interrelation of social, emotional and physiological aspects which interfere in its constant remodeling. In this sense, the person who participates in the Basic Semester of the CFS (Sargent Training Program) lives the ways, habits and values of the daily military life. Thus, a set of different sensations, perceptions and bodily experiences emerge, and they may impact in distinct aspects of the course attendees' body image. This study aims to investigat4e the impact of the Basic Semester of the CFS in the body image of the youngsters who join the Brazilian Army. This dissertation is presented as four articles: the first one is called “Body Image of the Military: a review”, has established an initial contact with the literature on the body image of military men by means of a specialized literature review; the second one, entitled “Conceptions on “Drive for Muscularity” in men”, was motivated by the scarcity of studies on the body image of the military and because of the importance of muscularity in men's body image, and homens, literary review on “Drive for Muscularity”; was also performed; the third one, called “Impact of the CFS on the Body Image of Military Men ”, a descriptive-qualitative article carried out with content analysis and which, by means of semistructured interviews, it was sought to better understand the components of body image of military men, particularly regarding the search for muscle building and to verify the impact of the CFS in these body image components in the course students; finally, the fourth one is called “Effects of the Military Physical Training (TFM) in anthropometric features and in the physical performance of the military”. Since, besides the phychological and social influences, body image is also structured according to the physiological context, it is necessary to assess the impact if an important aspect of the CFS - the TFM - in anthropometric variables and physical performance of the students of this course. It can be concluded that the CFS has positively influenced the components of body image in the military, the relationship with their muscularity and the physical performance indexes of the subjects of this study.