The Role of Social and Cultural Ideals on Body Self-Esteem and Dissatisfaction in Young and Middle Adulthood Periods

Body dissatisfaction can occur at any stage of our lives and media plays an important role in influencing it in today`s world. Most of research was conducted with adolescents and therefore body dissatisfaction in young and middle adulthood periods remain a neglected area. This study aims to explore how the media and gender influence adults` level of body dissatisfaction, body esteem, self-esteem and the internalization of sociocultural ideals. The sample consisted of 195 Turkish speaking participants (99 Male and 96 Female; Mean Age: 35.16, SD: 11.94) who were randomly divided into two groups as experimental and control group. The experimental group were exposed to images that emphasized sociocultural ideals and videos whereas the control group were exposed to neutral images and non-appearance video. Then, they were administered a self-report questionnaire made up of a demographic information form, Body Dissatisfaction Subscale of the Eating Disorder Inventory, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, Body Esteem Scale and Sociocultural Attitudes Toward Appearance Questionnaire. A significant effect of experimental manipulation and gender on each dependent variable (body dissatisfaction, self-esteem, body esteem and internalizaton) was obtained. In other words, results showed participants in experimental group reported lower level of body satisfaction, body esteem and higher level of internalization compare to control group. Additionally, women reported higher levels of body dissatisfaction, internalization and lower levels of self-esteem and body esteem compared to men. Besides, a significant interaction of group and gender was obtained on body dissatisfaction where women in the experimental group had higher level of body dissatistifaction then the women in the control group. In addition to this, women had higher level of body dissatisfaction than men in both conditions. However, any other significant interaction between group and gender was not found on the other dependent measures. Based on the present results, necessary interventions to reduce media effect were discussed in order to decrease the level of body dissatisfaction, internalization, body esteem and to increase self-esteem and encourage positive body image in both men and women. Keywords: Body dissatisfaction, Self-esteem, Body esteem, Internalization of socicocultural ideals, Gender, Experimental Manipulation