Date of Award
Summer 2013
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Psychology
Program
Clinical Psychology
First Advisor
Franzoi, Stephen
Second Advisor
Oswald, Debra
Third Advisor
Hoelzle, James
Abstract
Recently, Frost, Franzoi and Oswald (2012) found evidence suggesting that the way individuals evaluate their physical selves, also called body esteem, may have changed over the past quarter century. The findings were particularly strong regarding men's self-evaluations. Because Frost et al.'s (2012) findings focused on the Body Esteem Scale (BES: Franzoi & Shields, 1984), which is a measure that captures dimensions uniquely important to adult self-perception and physical evaluation within a multidimensional and gender-specific framework, one obvious implication of this study is that the BES may need revising in order to remain as current and relevant as possible.
With that goal in mind, a series of principal components analyses of the BES responses of 315 women and 353 men were conducted. Results indicated that an addition of a fourth sexuality component, as well as some item level changes were necessary in order for the BES to retain its cultural validity as a body esteem measure in the 21st century for men and women. Strong internal consistency was demonstrated for each revised subscale. New norms and subscale correlations were also computed. Finally, the associations between the revised BES subscales and measures of validity provided further support that the revised BES measures meaningful and important body constructs for women and men, and should continue to do so for the next several years. Cultural implications reflected in BES item changes, and future directions are discussed.