Abstract

This study examined the relationship between body dissatisfaction and self-esteem, controlling for other domains of satisfaction. Participants were 350 women aged between 18 and 40 years, recruited from a large metropolitan university in Melbourne, Australia. They completed a questionnaire assessing self-esteem, body dissatisfaction, and a range of other domains of life satisfaction at baseline and two years later. Hierarchical regression revealed that, when entered at Step 1, body dissatisfaction accounted for a significant amount of variance in change in self-esteem from Time 1 to Time 2, but that this relationship reduced to non-significance when other domains of satisfaction were included into the regression model at Step 2. Current findings suggest that previous bivariate estimates may overstate the influence of body dissatisfaction on self-esteem. However, replication is necessary to ensure that current results are not unduly influenced by identified study limitations.

The Relationship Between Body Dissatisfaction and Self-esteem

Body dissatisfaction refers to an individual’s degree of dissatisfaction with particular parts of the body (such as arms, thighs, etc.) and/or with global aspects of appearance (such as shape and weight) (Cook-Cottone & Phelps, 2003). Although body dissatisfaction is a key feature of eating disorders (American Psychological Association; APA, 2000), dissatisfaction with appearance is also common in non-clinical populations (Fuller-Tyszkiewicz, Ricciardelli, McCabe, & Lavelle, 2012). It is estimated that up to 50% of adolescents and adults are at least moderately dissatisfied with their appearance (Fuller-Tyszkiewicz, Krawczyk, Thompson, & Ricciardelli, 2012). These prevalence rates have motivated researchers to evaluate the causes and consequences of body dissatisfaction.

Method

Participants

Materials

Body dissatisfaction. Dissatisfaction with appearance was measured using the seven item Body Image Dissatisfaction subscale of the Body Change Inventory (BCI; Ricciardelli & McCabe, 2002). The first four items assess dissatisfaction with weight, shape, size, and muscles (e.g., ‘How dissatisfied are you with your weight?’). The remaining three items assess dissatisfaction with specific body regions: hips, thighs, and legs. Participants respond on a 5-point scale ranging from 0 (not at all) to 4 (extremely dissatisfied). Item scores are summed, such that higher total scores reflect greater body dissatisfaction. Researchers have demonstrated that the Body Image Dissatisfaction subscale exhibits strong psychometric properties (Ricciardelli & McCabe, 2002). In the current study, Cronbach’s alpha was .92.

Self-esteem. Self-esteem was measured with the 10 item Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES; Rosenberg, 1965). Five items are positively worded and five negatively worded. Item examples are ‘I feel that I have a number of good qualities’ and ‘At times I feel that I am no good at all’. Participants respond on a 5-point scale ranging from 0 (strongly disagree) to 4 (strongly agree). Self-esteem scores were obtained by adding all item responses, after the negatively worded item responses had been reverse-coded. High scores indicated a strong sense of self-esteem. In the present study, Time 2 estimates of self-esteem were subtracted from Time 1 scores to provide a measure of change in self-esteem across the testing period. Positive change scores indicate that a person’s self-esteem reduced, whereas a negative score reflects improvement in self-esteem at Time 2.

Procedure

Results

Descriptive Statistics

Regression Analyses

Table 1

Means, standard deviations, and range of actual scores for key variables

Discussion

However, present findings should be interpreted in light of key study limitations. First, although domains of satisfaction are measured, the present design did not measure whether individuals felt that these domains were important to their self-concept. It is, therefore, possible that body dissatisfaction failed to uniquely predict self-esteem because the current sample valued physical appearance less than previous studies in which body dissatisfaction was predictive of self-esteem. Second, the time frame (2 years) used to evaluate change in self-esteem may have been too long an interval to meaningfully detect changes in self-esteem that are due to body dissatisfaction. Recent findings have demonstrated meaningful changes in body dissatisfaction and self-esteem within hours and days (e.g., Colautti et al., 2011; Kernis, 2005), suggesting that an individual’s self-esteem level may change many times between the 2 year interval used in the present study. As such, it may have been more appropriate to correlate the body dissatisfaction levels measured at baseline against self-esteem levels at a more proximal distance to this initial assessment.

In conclusion, present findings suggest that body dissatisfaction is longitudinally related to self-esteem, but this relationship is weaker than previously found from cross-sectional designs and appears dependent on whether other domains of satisfaction are also included in the predictive model. Further research is needed to replicate these findings in light of identified study limitations. In particular, researchers are encouraged to evaluate the strength of the longitudinal association between body dissatisfaction and self-esteem using shorter intervals between testing periods. Evaluation of the importance that participants place on appearance is also necessary given the possibility that this may moderate the body dissatisfaction-self esteem relationship. Nevertheless, present findings caution against considering this relationship in isolation of other domains of satisfaction, as the bivariate association is likely to overstate the influence that body dissatisfaction exerts on self-esteem.

References

National Institute of Health (1998). Clinical guidelines on the identification, evaluation, and treatment of overweight and obesity in adults: Executive summary. Retrieved June 5, 2006, from http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/guidelines/obesity/ob_exsum.pdf.

Tiggemann, M. (2005). Body dissatisfaction and adolescent self-esteem: Prospective findings. Body Image, 2, 129-135.