Correlates of appearance and weight satisfaction in a U.S. National Sample: Personality, attachment style, television viewing, self-esteem, and life satisfaction

Frederick DA 1 , Sandhu G 2 , Morse PJ 3 , Swami V 4

Affiliations 

  • 1 Crean College of Health and Behavioral Sciences, Chapman University, Orange, CA, USA. Electronic address: [email protected]
  • 2 Crean College of Health and Behavioral Sciences, Chapman University, Orange, CA, USA
  • 3 Crean College of Health and Behavioral Sciences, Chapman University, Orange, CA, USA; Department of Psychology, University of California, Riverside, CA, USA
  • 4 Department of Psychology, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK; Department of Psychology, HELP University College, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Body Image, 2016 Jun;17:191-203.
PMID: 27172812 DOI: 10.1016/j.bodyim.2016.04.001

Abstract

We examined the prevalence and correlates of satisfaction with appearance and weight. Participants (N=12,176) completed an online survey posted on the NBCNews.com and Today.com websites. Few men and women were very to extremely dissatisfied with their physical appearances (6%; 9%), but feeling very to extremely dissatisfied with weight was more common (15%; 20%). Only about one-fourth of men and women felt very to extremely satisfied with their appearances (28%; 26%) and weights (24%; 20%). Men and women with higher body masses reported higher appearance and weight dissatisfaction. Dissatisfied people had higher Neuroticism, more preoccupied and fearful attachment styles, and spent more hours watching television. In contrast, satisfied people had higher Openness, Conscientious, and Extraversion, were more secure in attachment style, and had higher self-esteem and life satisfaction. These findings highlight the high prevalence of body dissatisfaction and the factors linked to dissatisfaction among U.S. adults.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

Similar publications