Fear of negative appearance evaluation and body esteem in students

Pages: 202-205
Z. Tehseem Fathima, B. Nandhika, and Ayesha Arif Zinna (Department of Psychology, JBAS College for Women, Chennai, Tamil Nadu)

The study examined the relationship between fear of negative appearance evaluation and body esteem among male and female students. The study also investigated if there were any gender differences in fear of negative appearance evaluation between male and female students. The sample consisted of 120 high school and college students out of which 60 were male and 60 were female. The students were selected from 2 colleges and 2 schools in Chennai city. The students were administered the Fear of Negative Appearance Evaluation Scale by Cooper, Lundgren, Anderson, and Thompson (2004) and Body Esteem Scale revised by Frost, Franzoi, Oswald, and Shields (2017). Pearson correlation coefficient was used to investigate the relationship between the fear of negative appearance evaluation and different dimensions of body esteem. Independent samples t-test was used to examine the gender differences in fear of negative appearance evaluation. The analysis revealed that there were no significant gender differences in fear of negative appearance evaluation among male and female students. The fear of negative appearance evaluation and weight concern were significantly, negatively correlated among female students. There was a significant negative relationship between fear of negative appearance evaluation and physical condition among female students. There was no significant relationship between fear of negative appearance evaluation and sexual attractiveness among female students. There was no significant relationship between the fear of negative appearance evaluation and sexual attractiveness, upper body strength and physical condition among male students.