破罐子破摔？胸型不好的女性不太注意胸部的健康检查

Women who are less happy with the appearance of their breasts are less likely to check for signs of cancer, new research finds.

一项新的研究发现，那些对自己的乳房不太满意的女性不太可能去检查是否有癌症的迹象。

The findings also show that women who are dissatisfied with the size of their breasts are more likely to delay seeing their doctor if they do detect a change, than those who feel confident about their bodies.

研究结果还显示，对乳房尺寸不满的女性比那些对自己的身材有信心的女性更有可能推迟看医生的时间。

Published in the journal Body Image, the study of 384 British women revealed that the majority of participants were unhappy with the appearance of their breasts in some way.

发表在《Body Image》杂志上的这项对384名英国女性的研究发现，大多数参与者对自己的胸部外观不满意。

While 31 per cent wanted smaller breasts, 44 per cent wanted larger breasts and a third of women (33 per cent) admitted they rarely or never engage in breast self-examination.

31%的人想要更小的乳房，44%的人想要自己的乳房尺寸更大，三分之一的女性(33%)承认她们很少或从不进行乳房的自我检查。

Worryingly, if they were to detect a change, one in 10 (8 per cent) admitted they would either delay seeing a doctor for as long as possible, or avoid it completely (2 per cent).

令人担忧的是，如果她们觉察到自己的胸部有什么异样，10%(8%)的人承认他们要么会推迟看医生，要么会完全避免看医生(2%)。

“Our findings suggest that greater breast size dissatisfaction is significantly associated with less frequent breast self-examination, lower confidence in detecting breast change, and greater delay in seeing a doctor following breast change,” said study author, Professor Viren Swami of Anglia Ruskin University.

研究报告的作者、安格利亚鲁斯金大学的Viren Swami教授说:“我们的研究结果表明，那些不让自己满意的乳房尺寸往往与较低频率的自我乳房健康检查、乳房变化的信心不足以及乳房病变后不去看医生等因素有关。”

“For women who are dissatisfied with their breast size, having to inspect their breasts may be experienced as a threat to their body image and so they may engage in avoidance behaviours.

“对于那些对乳房尺寸不满的女性来说，检查她们的乳房可能会对她们的身体形象造成威胁，因此她们可能会采取回避行为。”

“Breast size dissatisfaction may also activate negative self-conscious emotions, such as shame and embarrassment, that result in avoiding breast self-examination.”

“乳房尺寸的不满意也会激活消极的自我意识，比如羞耻和尴尬，从而避免乳房自我检查。”

Instead, Prof Swami says that promoting greater breast size satisfaction and breast awareness could help women view their breasts in more functional terms – such as their ability to produce milk for babies – rather than purely aesthetic terms, and in turn empower women to regularly self-check.

相反，Swami教授表示，提高乳房尺寸的满意度以及乳腺癌意识，可以帮助女性更有效地发挥乳房的多用功用-比如为婴儿哺乳的能力-而不是单纯的审美标准，反过来又能让女性定期自我检查。

“It is also important for healthcare practitioners to be mindful of the impact that dissatisfaction with one’s breasts may have on self-examination behaviours and outcomes,” said Prof Swami.

Swami教授表示:“对于医疗从业者来说，重要的是要意识到对自己乳房的不满可能对自我检查行为和结果产生的影响，这一点也很重要。”