The associations between body dissatisfaction, body figure, self-esteem, and depressed mood in adolescents in the United States and Korea: A moderated mediation analysis

Abstract

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.

Keywords: Adolescence; Body dissatisfaction; Culture; Depressed mood; Self-esteem.