Self-esteem and body esteem: Effects of gender, age, and weight

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Abstract

Three studies explored how youngsters' self-esteem and body esteem may be related to age, gender, and relative weight and to each other. Study 1 involved 379 8- to 12-years-olds and Study 2, 85 13- to 15-year-olds; Study 3 involved two samples (76 8- to 10-year-olds; 85 11- to 13-year-olds) tested twice over 2 years. Self-esteem was assessed with Harter's (1985b, 1988) Self-Perception Profile, which taps global self-worth and self-evaluations in specific domains. Body esteem was assessed with the Revised Body-Esteem Scale (Mendelson & White, 1993), which yielded two measures (BE-Appearance and BE-Weight). Generally, self-esteem was not related to relative weight, but was associated with feelings about one's appearance. Body-esteem measures were inversely related to relative weight (although only BE-Weight was uniquely so) and were also associated with global self-worth. Self-esteem and body esteem were stable over 2 years.

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    Aspects of this research were part of a poster presented at the Canadian Psychological Association, Quebec City, Quebec, June 1992. We heartily thank the administrators, teachers, and students of the Baldwin-Cartier School Board for making this project possible, Heidi Zackon and Annick Bucholz for assistance with data collection, Rhonda Amsel for help in shaping this article, and Evelyn Schliecker and Annick Bucholz for comments on a draft of the article. The research was supported by Les Fonds pour la Formation des Chercheurs et Aide à la Recherche, Ministry of Education, Quebec.

    The Body-Esteem Scale for Adolescents and Adults (Mendelson, White, & Balfour, 1995), with expanded Weight and Attribution factors, is currently being tested.

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