Appearance Esteem Trajectory According to Three Different Sources of Support Among Adolescents Over a School Year

Although social support has been linked to body satisfaction, there has been little research on the effect of differential sources of support on the trajectory of appearance esteem over time. To address this gap, this study explored changes in adolescents’ appearance esteem to perceived social support over one year. Data were collected from 339 Canadian adolescents (54.57% females) in Grade 7 (M_age = 12.05) and Grade 10 (M_age = 15.14). Multilevel growth modeling revealed that perceived social support from fathers was not associated with appearance esteem, whereas mothers’ support had the strongest effect on appearance esteem, consistently over time. Friends’ support was also related to an increase in the appearance esteem trajectory, but only for older students. Overall, this prospective study provides a better understanding of the unique contribution of three different sources of social support during adolescence for preventing negative appearance esteem, beyond the effects of other related variables.