Perceived importance, causal attributions and history of teasing as moderators of the relationship between appearance esteem and global self-esteem / by Cindy Larocque.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between perceived importance of physical appearance and weight control, appearance esteem, and global self-esteem. Past research has found that perceived importance of appearance and weight control does not moderate the effect of appearance esteem on global self-esteem. The present study examined whether causal attributions and history of teasing play a moderating role in perceived importance effects. Both Lakehead University students and members of the Thunder Bay community completed questionnaires on these topics. We predicted that perceived importance would only play a moderating role when: (1) people felt personally responsible for their physical attractiveness; (2) people felt personally responsible for their body-weight; and (3) people had been teased a lot as children. Our results were significant for the first prediction but were not in the direction we predicted. The second and third predictions were not confirmed. Most of the significant results emerged on measures of eating disorders and not on measures of global self-esteem. The implications of these findings are discussed.