Appearance-related social comparisons: the role of contingent self-esteem and self-perceptions of attractiveness.
Two studies examined contingent self-esteem (CSE) and responses to appearance-related social comparisons. Study 1 was an experimental study in which women rated a series of advertisements from popular women's magazines. Study 2 employed an event-contingent diary recording procedure. In Study 1, women who were higher in CSE and lower in self-perceptions of attractiveness (SPA) experienced greater decreases in positive affect and greater increases in negative affect following the ad-rating task. Study 2 results supported a mediation model in which women who were higher in CSE felt worse after social comparisons because they made primarily upward comparisons. Overall, results suggest that appearance-related comparisons are more distressing for those who base their self-worth on contingencies and have lower self-perceived attractiveness.
Patrick
Heather
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Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA. hpatrick@bcm.tmc.edu
Neighbors
Clayton
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Knee
C Raymond
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D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000329:Advertising; D000339:Affect; D001504:Beauty; D001828:Body Image; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D012649:Self Concept