Open AccessEffects of Physical Appearance Social Comparisons and Perceived Attainability of an Ideal Body on Body Dissatisfaction and Weight‐Management Behaviors Among Young Japanese Women
Author(s) -
Taniguchi Emiko,
Ebesu Hubbard Amy S.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
japanese psychological research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.392
H-Index - 30
eISSN - 1468-5884
pISSN - 0021-5368
DOI - 10.1111/jpr.12264
Subject(s) - psychology , association (psychology) , social psychology , ideal (ethics) , human physical appearance , self esteem , developmental psychology , philosophy , epistemology , psychotherapist
This study was designed to test a model in which tendencies to engage in physical appearance social comparisons and perceived ideal body attainability interact to predict body dissatisfaction, and are associated with weight‐control behaviors (WCBs) as past studies have rarely examined perceived attainability in their analytic models. College women ( N = 297) from two universities in Japan completed a paper‐and‐pencil survey. A path analysis revealed that appearance comparisons were positively associated with body dissatisfaction over and above the effects of body mass index and self‐esteem. Body dissatisfaction, in turn, was positively related to low‐risk, moderate‐risk, and high‐risk WCBs. There was a significant interaction effect between appearance comparison and attainability, but the nature of the interaction was the opposite from our expectation: the positive association between appearance comparison and body dissatisfaction was more pronounced among women who reported higher confidence in attaining an ideal body, whereas this association was nonsignificant for those with low confidence in attaining an ideal body. Finally, perceived ideal body attainability was directly and positively related to low‐risk and moderate‐risk WCBs.