The associations between body dissatisfaction, body figure, self esteem, and depressed mood in adolescents in the United States and Korea: A moderated mediation analysis.
The perception of one's body image becomes particularly important in adolescence. Body dissatisfaction has been associated with negative psychological functioning, such as self esteem and depression. Previous findings showed that the decreased self esteem due to body dissatisfaction explained the association between negative attitude toward body and psychological well being in different cultural contexts. The present study examined adolescents from the US (N 1002) and Korea (N 3993) and replicated and extended the previous findings regarding body dissatisfaction and associated psychological outcomes. The results showed that body dissatisfaction predicted higher depressed mood and that self esteem mediated this association for both American and Korean adolescents. Notably, the indirect effect of body dissatisfaction and perceived body image on depressed mood via self esteem was greater for American adolescents than for Korean adolescents. The implications of the cultural difference in the significance of self esteem in mediating the body dissatisfaction and depressed mood are discussed.
Journal of adolescence