Readiness to accept Western standard of beauty and body satisfaction among Muslim girls with and without hijab

The purpose of this paper was to determine whether there is a difference in the readiness to accept Western standards of beauty in which thinness is an ideal of beauty and attractiveness, as well in body and appearance satisfaction between Muslim adolescent girls attending madrassa and dressing in accordance with tradition, that is to say wearing hijab, and Muslim adolescent girls who do not wear hijab and who follow contemporary Western‐influenced fashion trends. Both of these groups were also compared to a non‐Muslim group of adolescent girls. The sample consisted of 75 Muslim adolescent girls with hijab, 75 Muslim adolescent girls without hijab and 75 Orthodox adolescent girls. The following instruments were used: the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT‐26), the Sociocultural Attitudes towards Appearance Questionnaire (SATAQ‐3) and the Contour Drawing Rating Scale (CDRS). The highest level of body satisfaction (despite this group having the highest body weight in the sample) was evident among Muslim adolescent girls attending madrassa and wearing hijab. They also showed significantly less pressure to attain the Western thin‐ideal standards of beauty than adolescent girls who accept Western way of dressing. Research results indicate a significant role of socio‐cultural factors in one's attitude towards the body image, but also opens the question of the role of religion as a protective factor when it comes to the body and appearance attitude among Muslim women who wear hijab.     

Changes in 10‐year‐old children's body esteem: A time‐lag study between 2000 and 2010

This time‐lag study examined if there has been any changes in body esteem over a 10‐year period for 10‐year old children in Gothenburg, Sweden. Two cohorts of children, one in year 2000 and one in 2010, answered the same questionnaire about body esteem. A total of 960 children, 515 girls and 445 boys, participated in the first wave in 2000 and a total of 342 children, 171 girls and 171 boys participated in the second wave in 2010. The results showed a general stability in levels of body esteem for both girls and boys over the past 10 years. The gender differences, with boys being more satisfied with their appearance and weight compared to girls also seems to be stable over the years. In addition, the results also showed a somewhat positive development among the overweight girls with enhanced body esteem for the overweight girls compared to the non‐overweight girls during the ten years studied. Unfortunately, the same pattern was not found for overweight boys. For them the discrepancy in body esteem compared to non‐overweight boys, with the overweight boys being more dissatisfied, found in 2000 remained in 2010.     

Do Religious Affirmations,Religious Commitments,or General Commitments Mitigate the Negative Effects of Exposure to Thin Ideals?

Western pressures for thinness tell women that having a thin body makes a person worthy. Two factors that may provide alternative means of self‐worth are religion and general commitment to a meaningful goal. This study experimentally tested whether religious‐affirming statements buffered against exposure to thin models for everyone, or only for women with strong religious commitment. It also examined the relationships among religious commitment, general commitment, and body satisfaction. One hundred eleven women at a religious‐affiliated college completed the commitment scales and baseline body measures. They were later randomly assigned to read one set of affirming statements, after which they then completed body measures again. Results showed that religious commitment buffered against exposure to ultrathin models. Women who were strongly religiously committed and who read religious statements that affirmed the body showed higher body esteem. Correlation results showed that general commitment was positively related to body esteem, body satisfaction, and healthy dieting. Religious commitment was positively related to body esteem and body satisfaction. Results are discussed in relation to schemas and depth of processing. Practical implications are discussed.     

Body Size Beliefs and Weight Concerns Among Mothers and Their Adolescent Children

African American and White mother/adolescent pairs were examined for familial associations in body size and weight concerns. Mothers' and adolescents' estimates of adolescents' body mass index (BMI) were significantly correlated. Compared to boys, girls had greater body dissatisfaction, higher weight concerns, and perceived higher family/friend weight concerns. By race, White adolescents had more body dissatisfaction and greater concern about weight than African American adolescents. Four items explained 70.4% of the variance in adolescents' weight concern scores: adolescents' weight management practices, mothers' reports of adolescents' saying they were too fat, adolescents' perceptions of family/friends' weight concerns, and adolescents' body dissatisfaction. Our study suggests White girls are more concerned about their weight and perceive greater weight and dieting concerns among family/friends than African American girls.     

Testing a Gender Additive Model: The Role of Body Image in Adolescent Depression

Despite consistent evidence that adolescent girls are at greater risk of developing depression than adolescent boys, risk factor models that account for this difference have been elusive. The objective of this research was to examine risk factors proposed by the gender additive model of depression that attempts to partially explain the increased prevalence of depression in adolescent girls. The theory suggests that body image and eating related variables predict depression for girls, but not for boys, above and beyond the variance accounted for by other well-known risk factors, some of which were examined in the current study. The sample was 247 adolescent girls and 181 adolescent boys studied over a 24-month duration. Results suggest that body dissatisfaction is a potent predictor of depression for girls, but not for boys, above and beyond the predictive effects of other established risk factors. Results provide insight into the etiology of adolescent depression and the disparate rate of depression among adolescent girls and provide direction for identifying high-risk individuals and developing effective prevention programs.     

Self‐esteem,perception of relationships,and emotional distress: A cross‐cultural study

This study examined the relative importance of self‐esteem, family cohesion, and support from friends in predicting depressed mood and anxiety in Japanese and American college students. Contrary to expectations, self‐esteem was the strongest predictor of emotional distress in both groups of students. Nevertheless, consistent with predictions derived from Markus and Kitayama's theory of self‐construals, family cohesion accounted for a significantly larger percentage of the variance in predicting emotional distress in Japan than in the United States. In both countries, the relations between support from friends and the measures of emotional distress were entirely mediated by self‐esteem. However, among Japanese students, family cohesion accounted for additional significant variance in predicting the measures of emotional distress, even after controlling for self‐esteem.     

A structural equation model of intuitive eating with adolescents

IntroductionThe tendency to eat by paying attention and respecting the body's hunger and satiety cues is called intuitive eating. This eating behavior has been linked to positive health and well-being outcomes.ObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to test a global model linking intuitive eating with self-esteem, body esteem, media influence and including fear of negative appearance evaluation in adolescents’ boys and girls.MethodIn total, 740 adolescent high school students (51.5% girls; M age = 14, SD = 1.5) completed self-report questionnaires with measures of intuitive eating, body esteem, self-esteem, media influence and fear of negative appearance evaluation.ResultsStructural equation modeling revealed an overall excellent fit for the final four-variable model excluding the fear of negative appearance evaluation variable. Mediation analyses showed an indirect relationship between intuitive eating and body esteem via media influence, for girls but not for boys. Body esteem mediated the relationship between intuitive eating and self-esteem, for girls and boys.ConclusionA new model is proposed where intuitive eating is associated with self-esteem through body esteem and media influence. These findings suggest that regulating attitudes and behaviors toward food may be related to higher psychological well-being.     

Developmental patterns in body esteem from late childhood to young adulthood: A growth curve analysis

This study examines the long-term development of different domains of body esteem (BE), the most salient domain of adolescents' global self-esteem. The 11-year longitudinal study of Swedish youths, covering ages 10–21, showed that BE undergoes significant change from late childhood to young adulthood, with growth curve models revealing different developmental paths between domains and across gender. For girls, general appearance esteem and weight esteem decreased in the early adolescent phase and then stabilized. For boys, similar patterns were evident, but weight esteem was subject to change also in late adolescence. The third BE domain, appearance-evaluations ascribed to others, displayed a distinct developmental trajectory. This was the only domain where no gender differences were noted in terms of mean levels. It was also the only domain that demonstrated positive increases over time. Findings from the present long-term study contribute to a more coherent picture of the development of BE from late childhood and into young adulthood.     

Nobody's perfect: A qualitative examination of African American maternal caregivers’ and their adolescent girls’ perceptions of body image

Using semi-structured interviews, we explored African American maternal caregivers’ and their adolescent girls’ (N = 25 dyads) perceptions about the adolescent's body using Grounded Theory. Caregivers and adolescent girls (M_age = 13.42) were asked what the adolescent girls liked most/least about their bodies and how peers and media may affect adolescent girls’ perceptions. While some adolescent girls reported overall body satisfaction, others described features they would like to change. Belief in God, body acceptance, and appreciation for average/moderate features helped the adolescent girls maintain their positive body image. The body-related messages that adolescent girls received from caregivers and peers included compliments, pressure to lose weight, teasing, and advice. Adolescent girls also reported being either influenced by or skeptical of the images presented in the media. Programs that promote caregiver–adolescent communication about body perceptions and that build on the adolescent girls’ media skepticism may prove useful for their health-related attitudes and behaviors.     

Geographic region effects on adolescent physical self: An exploratory study

The objectives of this exploratory study were to examine gender differences in physical self‐concept, and the influence of geographic place of residence on both adolescents' physical self‐concept and gender differences in physical self‐concept. The Physical Self Inventory was used to measure physical self‐perceptions and global self‐esteem. Participants were 323 boys and 282 girls living in the North or South of France. First a Mann‐Whitney U test was used to assess gender differences and the influence of geographic region differences on physical self‐perceptions (physical self‐worth, physical condition, sport competence, attractive body, physical strength) and global self‐esteem. Then a Kruskal‐Wallis ANOVA for ranked data was used to assess geographic region influence on boys' and girls' physical self‐concept and global self‐esteem. The results showed that not only did boys have significantly higher physical self scores (on all scales) and global self‐esteem than girls, but also that adolescents from the North of France had higher physical self scores (on all scales) and global self‐esteem than adolescents from the South. Moreover, many differences were found between boys and girls on physical self scores (on all scales) and global self‐esteem according to their geographic place of residence. The main results showed that girls from the South had lower scores on the attractive body, physical strength, physical self‐worth, and global self‐esteem scales than all other adolescents, and that boys from the South had lower scores on the attractive body and global self‐esteem scales than did boys and girls from the North.     

LOOKING GOOD, SOUNDING GOOD: FEMININITY IDEOLOGY AND ADOLESCENT GIRLS' MENTAL HEALTH

This study used a feminist psychodynamic developmental framework to test the hypothesis that internalizing conventional femininity ideologies in two domains—inauthenticity in relationships and body objectification—is associated with early adolescent girls' mental health. One hundred forty-eight eighth-grade girls completed measures of femininity ideology, self-esteem, depression, and demographic characteristics. In the first part of this study, we refined the Adolescent Femininity Ideology Scale originally developed by Tolman and Porche (2000) . In the second part, we used structural equation modeling to test models linking femininity ideology to mental health. Results revealed that body objectification, and to a lesser extent, inauthenticity in relationships, accounted for half of the variance in depression and over two-thirds of the variance in self-esteem in a critical period of development for adolescent girls. The importance of a feminist psychodynamic developmental framework for identifying and understanding salient dimensions of female adolescence is discussed.     

Thin Images Reflected in the Water: Narcissism and Girls’ Vulnerability to the Thin‐Ideal

The purpose of this research is to test how adolescent girls’ narcissistic traits—characterized by a need to impress others and avoid ego‐threat—influence acute adverse effects of thin‐ideal exposure. Participants (11–15 years; total N = 366; all female) reported their narcissistic traits. Next, in two experiments, they viewed images of either very thin or average‐sized models, reported their wishful identification with the models (Experiment 2), and tasted high‐calorie foods in an alleged taste test (both experiments). Narcissism kept girls from wishfully identifying with thin models, which is consistent with the view that narcissistic girls are prone to disengage from thin‐ideal exposure. Moreover, narcissism protected vulnerable girls (those who experience low weight‐esteem) from inhibiting their food intake, and led other girls (those who consider their appearance relatively unimportant) to increase their food intake. These effects did not generalize to conceptually related traits of self‐esteem and perfectionism, and were not found for a low‐calorie foods outcome, attesting to the specificity of findings. These experiments demonstrate the importance of narcissism at reducing girls’ thin‐ideal vulnerability. Girls high in narcissism disengage self‐protectively from threats to their self‐image, a strategy that renders at least subsets of them less vulnerable to the thin‐ideal.     

The Effects of Instructional Frame on Female Adolescents’ Evaluations of Larger Sized Female Models in Print Advertising1

Despite growing attention to problems associated with girls’ and women's viewing unrealistic portrayals of women in advertising, little research has identified positive consequences of presenting larger sized females in advertisements. The present research examined these positive effects and found that instructions that support the use of larger sized females in ads (relative to a more traditional instructional frame) heightened adolescent girls’ ratings of the larger sized models’ attractiveness, self‐attractiveness, and self‐esteem without changing girls’ ratings of thinner sized models. General and valenced self‐referencing (positive and negative self‐thoughts while viewing the ads) were examined as potential mediators of the instructional effects on self‐attractiveness and self‐esteem. The findings provide evidence that girls’ perceptions can be altered in a positive manner through media images of women.     

Gender differences in subjective well-being, self-esteem and psychosocial functioning in adolescents with symptoms of anxiety and depression: findings from the Nord-Trøndelag Health Study

Derdikman‐Eiron, R., Indredavik, M. S., Bratberg, G. H., Taraldsen, G., Bakken, I. J. & Colton, M. (2011). Gender differences in subjective well‐being, self‐esteem and psychosocial functioning in adolescents with symptoms of anxiety and depression: Findings from the Nord‐Trøndelag health study. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology52, 261–267. Gender differences in the prevalence of symptoms of anxiety and depression during adolescence are well documented. However, little attention has been given to differences in subjective well‐being, self‐esteem and psychosocial functioning between boys and girls with symptoms of anxiety and depression. The aim of this study was to investigate gender differences in the associations between such symptoms and subjective well‐being, self‐esteem, school functioning and social relations in adolescents. Data were taken from a major population‐based Norwegian study, the Nord‐Trøndelag Health study (HUNT), in which 8984 (91% of all invited) adolescents, aged 13–19 years, completed an extensive self‐report questionnaire. Although prevalence rates of symptoms of anxiety and depression were higher in girls than in boys, a significant interaction between gender and symptoms of anxiety and depression was found in respect of each of the following outcome variables: subjective well‐being, self‐esteem, academic problems, frequency of meeting friends and the feeling of not having enough friends. These interactions indicate that the associations between symptoms of anxiety and depression and lower subjective well‐being and self‐esteem, more academic problems in school and lower social functioning were stronger for boys than for girls. Our findings may contribute to an earlier assessment and more efficient treatment of male adolescent anxiety and depression.     

Body image attitudes and concerns among indigenous Fijian and European Australian adolescent girls

Research on body image has primarily been conducted among Western women who highly value the thin ideal body size. There has been limited research that has examined body image attitudes among Fijian adolescent girls who are exposed to both traditional sociocultural pressures that promote a larger body size and Western pressures that promote slimness. Using in-depth semi-structured interviews, we examined the factors associated with body image attitudes and concerns among a sample of 16 indigenous Fijian and 16 European Australian adolescent girls aged between 13–18 years. An inductive analysis of girls’ responses indicated that both groups of girls experienced body image concerns including body dissatisfaction, a preference for thinness and concerns associated with weight gain. These findings have implications for our understanding of the role of culture in shaping body image among girls and may prove useful in the development of future survey research that can be implemented among both Fijian and Western adolescents.     

Cultural Mistrust,Ethnic Identity,Racial Identity,and Self‐Esteem Among Ethnically Diverse Black University Students

Cultural mistrust, ethnic identity, racial identity, and self‐esteem were examined among African (n = 26), African American (n = 110), and West Indian/Caribbean (n = 24) university students. African American students' scores were statistically different from those of African and West Indian/Caribbean students on cultural mistrust, racial identity, and ethnic identity measures. There were no statistically significant differences on self‐esteem among the 3 groups. Results did indicate that cultural mistrust, ethnic identity, and racial identity accounted for 37% of the variance in self‐esteem for African American students. Implications for practice and future research directions are discussed.     

Depression Moderates the Relationship between Body Image and Health-Related Quality of Life in Adolescent Girls

Body image can predict health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in adolescent girls through self-esteem and psychological well-being. Additionally, depression is a significant predictor of adolescents’ HRQoL and is associated with body image. Therefore, we investigated whether the relationship between body image and HRQoL in adolescent girls is moderated by depression. In this cross-sectional study, adolescent girls’ body image, depression, and HRQoL (n?=?385, age: 12–15 years) were measured through self-report questionnaires. Multiple regression and simple slope analyses were conducted to examine the moderating effect of depression. Body image was positively correlated with HRQoL, whereas depression was negatively correlated with body image and HRQoL. Body image, depression, and their interaction explained 44.9% of the variance in HRQoL. Simple slope analysis showed that a more positive body image was associated with higher HRQoL among adolescent girls without depressive symptoms, but was not significantly related to HRQoL for adolescents with depressive symptoms. The moderating effect of depression was confirmed. In conclusion, screening for depression is recommended for adolescent girls prior to implementing body image interventions in schools and the community that are aimed at improving HRQoL. Furthermore, health care providers in schools and the community should provide psychological support for depression along with body image interventions to improve the HRQoL of girls in schools and the community. In particular, for girls with depressive symptoms, depression management should be conducted beforehand.     

Violence Exposure and Sexual Risk Behaviors for African American Adolescent Girls: The Protective Role of Natural Mentorship and Organizational Religious Involvement

African American adolescent girls are at increased risk of being exposed to community violence and being diagnosed with a sexually transmitted infection. Fewer studies, however, have examined the protective roles of natural mentorship and organizational religious involvement as potential moderators that could lessen the effects of violence exposure on health risk behavior. Data from 273 African American ninth grade girls were used to test hypothesized independent and moderated‐moderation models. Results suggest that natural mentorship and religious involvement were protective for girls who reported at least one mentor and moderate to high levels of religious involvement. Our findings may be relevant for community stakeholders and organizations that directly interact with religious institutions and community programs that focus on outreach to African American adolescent girls.     

Body‐Weight Self‐Schema: Determinant of Mood and Behavior in Women With an Eating Disorder1

The schema approach to self‐concept was used to investigate the association between body‐weight self‐conception and self‐esteem, negative affect states, and disordered eating behavior in women with anorexia nervosa (n= 26) or bulimia nervosa (N= 53) using experience sampling methodology. We predicted that self‐esteem would be lower and unpleasant affect and disordered eating behaviors would be higher when the body‐weight self‐schema was activated in working memory compared to when non‐weight‐related self‐schemas were activated. Participants recorded the currently activated self‐schema, self‐esteem, affect, and behavior in response to an alarm‐watch signal 5 times daily for 5 days. Activation of the body‐weight self‐schema was associated with lower self‐esteem and higher negative affect, but not higher levels of disordered eating behavior. Low self‐esteem and negative affect, however, were associated with disordered eating behavior. Findings have important implications for treatment of eating disorders.     

Differences in body esteem by weight status,gender, and physical activity among young elementary school-aged children

Body satisfaction is important for the prevention of disordered eating and body image disturbances. Yet, little is known about body esteem and what influences it among younger children. The purpose of this study was to evaluate body esteem and the relationships between body esteem, weight, gender, and physical activity in elementary school children. A total of 214 third graders in a U.S. Midwestern state participated in this correlational study. The Body Mass Index-for-age, the Body Esteem Scale (BES), BE-Weight, BE-Appearance, and a Physical Activity Checklist were used to examine the relationships between the variables using bivariate correlations and analysis of variance. While children's body esteem did not differ by physical activity, important interactions were identified between weight status and gender in global body esteem and BE-Appearance. It is critical to examine attitudes about weight and appearance and the relationship between body esteem and self-esteem further among middle childhood-aged children.