The impact of self -esteem and depressed mood on body image dissatisfaction

This study examined the relationship between self-esteem, mood, and body image dissatisfaction among female undergraduates. Based upon their performance on the Index of Self Esteem (Hudson, 1992), participants were divided into self-esteem groups (high and moderate self-esteem). Participants were also randomly assigned to dysphoric or neutral mood induction groups. The effects of being overweight were controlled for by having Body Mass Index (BMI) as a covariate in all analyses. There were overall effects of self esteem and mood on the attitudinal and perceptual aspects of body image dissatisfaction. When compared with participants in neutral mood conditions, those in the dysphoric mood conditions demonstrated more negative affective and cognitive appraisals of their bodies and they demonstrated wider discrepancies between their estimates of current and ideal body size regardless of self-esteem level. Relative to participants with higher levels of self-esteem, participants with lower levels of self-esteem were likely to have more negative thoughts and feelings about their bodies and they were likely to have a wider discrepancy between their estimates of current and ideal body size, regardless of mood, There was an overall effect of mood on estimates of ideal body size, with participants in dysphoric conditions preferring a thinner ideal body size than those in neutral conditions. There was an overall effect of self-esteem on estimates of current body size, with participants having lower levels of self-esteem providing larger estimates of current body size. The results suggest that self-esteem and dysphoric: mood influence the perceptual aspect of body image in separate and distinct ways that serve to create overall dissatisfaction by widening the discrepancy between estimates of current and ideal body size.