An examination of sociocultural factors in the development of body dissatisfaction among Indonesian males and females.

Abstract

In today’s society, physical appearance is highly valued. From young, children desire to have a perfect body. However, today’s appearance standards are impossible for majority to achieve, giving rise to the development of body dissatisfaction. In turn, body dissatisfaction has been linked to various negative outcomes, such as poor self-esteem, depression, and eating disorders. Hence, this study aims to examine the risk factors associated with body dissatisfaction, particularly the effects of media pressure as well as peer and family pressure, and whether the influences of these sociocultural factors are mediated by appearance comparison and internalization of appearance ideals. The study also seeks to find out if the relationships posited in the tripartite influence model, which is used as the study’s theoretical framework, are applicable in the Asian context, among both male and female young adults.