The aim of the study was to investigate prospectively the direction of the relationship between adolescent girls’ body dissatisfaction and self-esteem. Participants were 242 female high school students who completed questionnaires at two points in time, separated by 2 years. The questionnaire contained measures of weight (BMI), body dissatisfaction (perceived overweight, figure dissatisfaction, weight satisfaction) and self-esteem. Initial body dissatisfaction predicted self-esteem at Time 1 and Time 2, and initial self-esteem predicted body dissatisfaction at Time 1 and Time 2. However, linear panel analysis (regression analyses controlling for Time 1 variables) found that aspects of Time 1 weight and body dissatisfaction predicted change in self-esteem, but not vice versa. It was concluded that young girls with heavier actual weight and perceptions of being overweight were particularly vulnerable to developing low self-esteem.
There is a large amount of evidence that many women and girls in Western societies experience considerable dissatisfaction with their body size and shape, with a particular wish to be thinner. Two decades ago, Rodin, Silberstein, and Striegel-Moore (1985) characterized weight as “a normative discontent” for females in our society, and this continues to be the case. The present study focuses on the potential consequences of such negative body evaluation for global views of self-worth.
Self-concept theories in the Jamesian tradition (James, 1890) propose that dissatisfaction in a particular domain will have an impact on overall global self-esteem to the extent that the domain is central to the individual's self-definition. For example, Crocker's (e.g., Crocker, Luhtanen, Cooper, & Bouvrette, 2003) Contingencies of Self-Worth theory proposes a number of specific sources of self-esteem, including appearance. Although physical self-concept is an important component of self-concept and identity for everyone, the greater importance of weight and appearance for women (Rodin et al., 1985) leads to the prediction that a woman's satisfaction with her body will impact on her global self-esteem to a much greater extent than for men (who can more readily receive self-esteem from other sources, e.g., money, status). Such a gender difference in the size of the negative correlation between body satisfaction and self-esteem has generally been supported in young adults (e.g., Mintz & Betz, 1986; Wade & Cooper, 1999), and adolescents (e.g., Polce-Lynch, Myers, Kliewer, & Kilmartin, 2001), but not always (McCaulay, Mintz, & Glenn, 1988; Tiggemann, 1992). A related meta-analysis by Miller and Downey (1999) concluded that there was a moderate relationship (r = −0.18, d = −0.36) between weight and self-esteem, with lower self-esteem associated with heavier weight. Effect sizes were significantly larger for self-perceived overweight than for actual weight, for women than for men, and for high school and college students than for children.
