Exploring the Interplay: Self-Esteem and Body Shape Concerns in Society

Abstract

Aims

It is seen that the people are much concerned about the body shape, especially the physical appearance, as appearance is given more priority in the society, and it is believed that it has a direct impact on the self-esteem of the person. Kernis et al. (1993) believed that emphasis is laid on physical attractiveness and body shape in order to judge the person’s worth, which stabilises the self-esteem up to a higher degree. Thus, the main aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between people’s self-esteem and worry about their body shape, a topic often explored in psychology dissertation help.

Methods

The data is quantitative and collected through questionnaires using the Likert Scale. The simple random sampling method was used for selecting the sample population. A survey approach was used for the study. Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Shapiro-Wilk were the tests used for normality

Results

A total of 221 participants were selected for the study, and the minimum age was found to be 18 while the maximum age was found to be 45. It was also seen that 130 (58.8%) of the participants were female while the 91 (41.2%) of the participants were males. The Pearson correlation was coming out to be negative which shows that there is a statistically negative relationship between worry about body shape and self-esteem.

Conclusion

The findings of the research suggested that the worry about body shape negatively impacts the self-esteem of the people. It implies that if the body shape of the people is not pleasing, then they might feel discomfort in making social appearances and would feel ashamed.

Introduction

According to the general mindset of the society, it has been noteworthy that the looks of a person become the defining criteria of the status along with the worth of the person in society. A lean and tall figure for girls is a mark of excellence while a well-built body is a defining index for the boys. It means that the girls should look delicate while the boys should look muscular. This makes it mandatory for all individuals to follow this generally accepted rule. A boy who is lean or a girl who is fat does not feel comfortable in making social contact. As appearance is given more priority in the society, it has a direct impact on the self-esteem of the person. Every person needs motivation in order to move ahead in life. However, a disturbed body shape makes a person feel discarded and low in comparison of the others around. Continue your exploration of Based on the data presented in the table above with our related content.

Literature Review

As per the study conducted by Cash and Pruzinky, (1990) it was seen that the people are more concerned about the body image, especially the physical appearance. It is generally seen that the body image for a person is formed by the feedback that the people obtain from their near ones, friends or relatives. It may be negative or positive feedback.

Further, the study of Schouten, (1991) was found to be similar in results as Cash and Pruzinky, (1990). Schouten also found that self-esteem and body image are positively correlated. It was observed in the study that if a person realises that there is something lacking in the appearance it is a general practice to add adornments in order to enhance the looks. Another similar study was conducted by Kernis et al., (1993) which showed that emphasis is laid on physical attractiveness in order to judge the person’s worth which stabilises the self-esteem up to a higher degree. Also, it is a fact that the female candidates are more concerned about physical appearance. In this report, the main focus is laid on the relationship between people’s self-esteem and worry about their body shape how does that impact their social behaviour. Thus, earlier research shows that worry about body shape has its influence on the self-esteem of a person. Thus, the proposed work tries to draw a relationship between self-esteem and worry about body shape to answer the following question.

Research Question

How worry about body share affects one’s self-esteem?

Hypothesis

H0: There is no statistically significant relationship between self-esteem and worry about body shape.

H1: There is a statistically significant relationship between self-esteem and worry about body shape.

In order to find the answer to the above question and to test the above-stated hypothesis, data regarding self-esteem and worry about self-esteem was collected through the survey, and the collected data were analysed through SPSS software by applying Pearson Correlation. On the basis of the literature referred, it is assumed that there will be a negative correlation between worry about body share and self-esteem. That is, people who worry more about their body shape will be low on self-esteem and vice-versa.

Methods

Research design

There are various research designs are available for carrying out the research like conclusive, descriptive, exploratory, survey, casual, case study and co-relational. As per the structure of the study and the requirement of data to be analysed, it was best to use the survey as the research design. The data is quantitative and collected through the Likert Scale. The data was collected on the self-esteem of the participants and the way through which it gets affected by the worry of body shape. It was only possible to collect the data by using a survey technique.

Sample

The sample size of the 221 people was taken into consideration. Out of the total 221 participants, 130 (58.8%) were female while 91 (41.2%) were males. These statistics showed that a majority of the participants were female candidates. The sample size was chosen based on the worry about the body shape and its impact on the self-esteem of the participants. Simple random sampling is a method in which a small sample of the participants is chosen from a larger group of the population. It can be done either by selecting the random sample through a lottery or a computer generated program. In the current research also the sample collection method is simple random sampling as the population size is large and it is not possible to collect data from such a large sample size.

Measurement or materials

Questionnaires were prepared that contained questions related to the self-esteem and worry about the body shape. Questions were marked on the Likert scale and analysed through SPSS software. Kolmogorov-Smirnova and Shapiro-Wilk were the tests used for normality. Graphs were plotted to analyse the correlation between the two determinants.

Procedure

Ethics are the standards which define a code of conduct following which research should be conducted. In this research, every care was taken to collect the data from authentic sources and primary data collection was emphasised. There was no duplicity of data and questionnaires.

Results

Out of 221 participants, the minimum age was found to be 18 while the maximum age was found to be 45. The mean age of the participants was found to be 26.55 years with a standard deviation of 8.148.

Out of total 221 participants, 130 (58.8%) of the participants were female while the 91 (41.2%) of the participants were males. It signifies that the majority of the participants are females.

Both the variables, i.e. self-esteem and worry about body shape is not normally distributed because the Shapiro-Wilk is less than 0.05 in both the cases.

There is a statistically negative correlation between self-esteem and worry about body shape. It signifies that if the worry about body shape rises then the self-esteem deteriorates manifolds. Also, the opposite is true where if the worry about body shape is less, then the self-esteem would be high. As per the Pearson correlation coefficient (r) = -0.440; p = 0.000. Since the p-value or the significance value is less than the critical alpha value of 0.05; it clearly shows that there is a statistically negative relationship between worry about body shape and self-esteem.

Discussion

The findings of the research suggested that the worry about body shape negatively impacts the self-esteem of the people. It implies that it is the body shape of the people is not pleasing then they might feel discomfort in making social appearances and would feel ashamed. Thus, it shows that the null hypothesis is rejected and the alternative hypothesis is selected. That is, there is a statistically significant negative relationship between worry about body shape and self-esteem. The findings of the research were similar to the study of Cash and Pruzinky, (1990), who suggested that a disturbed body shape makes a person feel discarded and low in comparison of the others around. Further, in the research, it was observed that it was seen that the people are more concerned about the body image, especially the physical appearance and any discrepancy in that leads to distorted self-esteem altogether. A study conducted by Schouten, (1991) suggested that that self-esteem and body image are positively correlated. It was observed in the study that if a person realises that there is something lacking in the appearance it is a general practice to add adornments in order to enhance the looks. The results of the current study are in contrast with this study a statistically negative relationship has been established in the current study.

Further, another study conducted by Kernis et al., (1993) showed that in the society more emphasis is laid on physical attractiveness for judging the worth of a person which un-stabilises the self-esteem up to a higher degree. Thus, it can be said that except one study conducted by Schouten rest all the studies have generated similar results as the current study. It means that the self-esteem gets reduced to low levels when the physical appearance is not apt. Also, the opposite is true for the same. It implies that if the physical appearance of the person is proper, then the level of self-esteem is very high.

Limitation of the Study

A major limitation of the study is the limited sample size and the limited age group. Only 221 people participated in the survey, so there are chances that the findings may not be universally applicable due to a small sample. Moreover, there was no participant above 45 years of age, so the study does not have a perception of people above 45 years of age. To overcome these limitations, in future, research can be conducted with a higher number of participants from various geographical locations. Moreover, such survey should include respondents from age 15 years to at least 70 years.

References

Kernis, M. (2003). Toward a Conceptualization of Optimal Self-Esteem. Psychological Inquiry. 14(1). pp.1-26.

Cash, T. and Pruzinsky, T. (1990). Understanding Body Images Historical and Contemporary Perspectives. Guilford Publications.

Schouten, J.W. (1991). Selves in Transition: Symbolic in Personal Rites of Passage and Identity Reconstruction. Journal of Consumer Research. 17(4). pp.412-425.

Ketchen, D. (2005). Research Methodology in Strategy and Management. Emerald Group Publishing.

Appendix

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