Abstract
The ageing process has both psychological and physiological effects on women, and tactical choices are often made regarding beauty interventions to mask the outward signs of increasing age. The bra is believed to counteract the negative effects of ageing on the breast and alter the perceptions of one’s body. Due to the profound anatomical changes to the breast with increasing age, this paper aimed to examine the influence of ageing on women’s perceptions of their breasts and their bra preferences. 208 women aged 45–65 years were surveyed about their breasts, their bras and how they felt ageing may have influenced these. The findings showed 80 % of women surveyed had noticed a significant change in their breasts with ageing, just 7 % of the women surveyed were still proud of their breasts and 84 % of women dressed to look younger. Further, over 50 % of respondents would now not wear the bra they had worn in their twenties, indicating a change in bra preferences with age. The bra variables of primary importance to participants were: comfort, the bra’s ability to stay in place, optimal fit, appearance under clothing, support, discreetness, shoulder strap design, silhouette, breast shape, fabric and breast lift. These variables are perceived as being influential in the appropriateness of the bra and its social role for mature women; therefore, it is these bra variables that should be the focus of subsequent research regarding the optimisation of bras for women aged 45–65 years.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ashdown S, Na H (2008) Comparison of 3-D body scan data to quantify upper-body postural variation in older and younger women. Cloth Text Res J 26:292–307. doi:10.1177/0887302X07309131
Baltes MM, Carstensen LL (1996) The process of successful ageing. Ageing Soc 16:397–422. doi:10.1017/S0144686X00003603
Birtwistle G, Tsim C (2005) Consumer purchasing behaviour: an investigation of the UK mature women’s clothing market. J Consum Behav 4:453–464. doi:10.1002/cb.31
Blaikie N (2003) Analyzing quantitative data. Sage Publications Limited, London
Bowles KA, Steele JR, Munro B (2008) What are the breast support choices of Australian women during physical activity? Br J Sports Med 42:670–674. doi:10.1136/bjsm.2008.046219
Brown TP, Ringrose C, Hyland RE, Cole AA, Brotherston TM (1999) A method of assessing female breast morphometry and it’s clinical application. Br J Plast Surg 52:355–359. doi:10.1054/bjps1999.3110
Caldwell D (1981) And all was revealed: ladies’ underwear 1907–1980. St Martin’s, New York
Clarke LH, Griffin M (2008) Visible and invisible ageing: beauty work as a response to ageism. Ageing Soc 28:653–674. doi:10.1017/S0144686X07007003
Clarke LH, Griffin M, Maliha K (2009) Bat wings, bunions, and turkey wattles: body transgressions and older women’s strategic clothing choices. Ageing Soc 29:709–726. doi:10.1017/S0144686X08008283
Clegg F (1998) Simple statistics. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Davies EL, Gateley CA, Miers M, Mansel RE (1998) The long-term course of mastalgia. J R Soc Med 91:462–464. doi:10.1177/014107689809100903
De Silva M (1986) The costoclavicular syndrome: a new cause. Ann Rheum Dis 45:916–920. doi:10.1136/ard.45.11.916
Deeks AA, McCabe MP (2001) Menopausal stage and age and perceptions of body image. Psychol Health 16:367–379. doi:10.1080/08870440108405513
Dewsnap B, Hart C (2004) Category management: a new approach for fashion marketing. Eur J Mark 38:809–834. doi:10.1108/03090560410539267
Dillman D, Sinclair M, Clarke J (1993) Effects of questionnaire length, respondent-friendly design, and a difficult question on response rates for occupant-addressed census mail surveys. Public Opin Q 57:289–304. doi:10.1086/269376
Field AP (2009) Discovering statistics using SPSS. SAGE Publications Incorporated, London
Frazer L, Lawley M (2000) Questionnaire design & administration. Wiley, Brisbane
Garland R (1991) The mid-point on a rating scale: is it desirable? Mark Bull 2:66–70
Gehlsen G, Albohm M (1980) Evaluation of sports bras. Phys Sports Med 8:85–96
Gillham B (2007) Developing a questionnaire, 2nd edn. Continuum International Publishing Group, London
Godwin Y, Wood SH, O’Neill TJ (1998) A comparison of the patient and surgeon opinion on the long-term aesthetic outcome of reduction mammaplasty. Br J Plast Surg 51:444–449. doi:10.1054/bjps1997.0081
Greenbaum AR, Heslop T, Morris J, Dunn KW (2003) An investigation of the suitability of bra fit in women referred for reduction mammaplasty. Br J Plast Surg 56:230–236. doi:10.1016/S0007-1226(03)00122-X
Hardaker C, Fozzard G (1997) Communications: the bra design process: a study of professional practice. Int J Cloth Sci Technol 9:311–325. doi:10.1108/09556229710175795
Hasson D, Arnetz BB (2005) Validation and findings comparing VAS vs. likert scales for psychosocial measurements. Int Electron J Health Educ 8:178–192
Hinkin TR (1995) A review of scale development practices in the study of organizations. J Manag 21:967–988. doi:10.1177/014920639502100509
Hsieh C (2011) Money and happiness: does age make a difference? Ageing Soc 31:1289–1306. doi:10.1017/S0144686X10001431
Jamieson S (2004) Likert scales: how to (ab)use them. Med Educ 38:1212–1218. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2929.2004.02012.x
Katch L, Campaigne B, Freedson P, Sady S, Katch F, Behnke A (2005) Contribution of breast volume and weight to body fat distribution in females. Am J Phys Anthropol 53:93–100. doi:10.1002/ajpa.1330530113
Kim J, Hong K, Scheurell DM (2004) Applying QFD in the development of sensible brassiere for middle aged women. J Korean Soc Cloth Text 28:1596–1604
Krenzer G, Starr C, Branson D (2005) Development of a sports bra prototype: pattern works international best solution to a patternmaking problem 2000. Cloth Text Res J 23:131–134. doi:10.1177/0887302X0502300206
Liang X (2008) An investigation into the pressures and sensations caused by wearing a bra and the influence of these on bra fitting. Doctoral Dissertation, De Montfort University
Liao C, Lee C (2010) The application of codesign in new bra product innovations. Int J Cloth Sci Technol 22:211–227. doi:10.1108/09556221011018676
Litwin M (1995) How to measure survey reliability & validity. Sage Publications Ltd, London
Liu C, Arnett K (2000) Exploring the factors associated with web site success in the context of electronic commerce. Inf Manag 38:23–33. doi:10.1016/S0378-7206(00)00049-5
Lorentzen D, Lawson L (1987) Selected sports bras: a biomechanical analysis of breast motion while jogging. Phys Sports Med 15:128–139
McGhee DE, Steele JR (2006) How do respiratory state and measurement method affect bra size calculations? Br J Sports Med 40:970–974. doi:10.1136/bjsm.2005.025171
McLaren L, Kuh D (2004) Body dissatisfaction in midlife women. J Women Aging 16:35–54. doi:10.1300/J074v16n01_04
Oberg P, Tornstam L (1999) Body images among men and women of different ages. Ageing Soc 19:629–644
Paulson S, Willig C (2008) Older women and everyday talk about the aging body. J Health Psychol 13:106–120. doi:10.1177/1359105307084316
Risius D, Thelwell R, Wagstaff C, Scurr J (2012) Influential factors of bra purchasing in older women. J Fash Mark Manag 16:366–380. doi:10.1108/13612021211246099
Rosen PP (2001) Rosen’s breast pathology, 2nd edn. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Philadelphia
Scurr JC, White JL, Hedger W (2011) Supported and unsupported breast displacement in three dimensions across treadmill activity levels. J Sports Sci 29:55–61. doi:10.1080/02640414.2010.521944
Singer SR, Grismaijer S (2006) Dressed to kill the link between breast cancer and bras. Avery Publishing Group, New York
Sousa V, Zauszniewski J, Musil C (2004) How to determine whether a convenience sample represents the population. Appl Nurs Res 17:130–133. doi:10.1016/j.apnr.2004.03.003
Sukumar S (2007) The bra and the Indian woman’s notion of sexuality. J Creat Commun 2:267–278. doi:10.1177/097325860700200301
Tonkelaar I, Peeters P, van Noord P (2004) Increase in breast size after menopause: prevalence and determinants. Maturitas 48:51–57. doi:10.1016/j.maturitas.2003.10.002
Tsaousi C, Brewis J (2012) Are you feeling special today? Underwear and the ‘fashioning’ of female identity. Cult Organ 19:1–21. doi:10.1080/14759551.2011.634196
Twigg J (2007) Clothing, age and the body: a critical review. Ageing Soc 27:285–305. doi:10.1017/S0144686X06005794
Twigg J (2012) Adjusting the cut: fashion, the body and age on the UK high street. Ageing Soc 32:1008–1029. doi:10.1017/S0144686X11000754
Yip J, Law D, Wong Z (2007) An investigation of intimate apparel buying behaviour among fashion conscious and non-fashion conscious Chinese Hong Kong female consumers. Paper presented at the 2007 Annual Institutional Research Meeting, Feng Chia University
Acknowledgments
The research team would like to acknowledge Playtex® for sponsoring this research. The financial sponsors were partly involved in the survey design; all execution, analysis and interpretation of data were solely conducted by the researchers.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Responsible Editor: D. J. H. Deeg.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Risius, D., Thelwell, R., Wagstaff, C.R.D. et al. The influence of ageing on bra preferences and self-perception of breasts among mature women. Eur J Ageing 11, 233–240 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10433-014-0310-3
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10433-014-0310-3