The moderating role of perfectionism in appearance comparison and body dissatisfaction in female college students

Abstract

Objectives. In Thompson and his colleague’s (1999) Tripartite Influence Model, social comparison is one of the mediating factors between the social pressure to be thin and body dissatisfaction. Perfectionism has long been found to be an associated salient feature in eating disorder. But how perfectionism contributes to body image and eating problem has not been well investigated. In this study it is aimed to found the role of perfectionism in appearance social comparison process. Methods. A 2 (high or low in perfectionism) x 2 (model vs. product image) factorial design was employed. 82 female reported perfectionism first, followed by the presentation of advertisement image, lastly they report body esteem, ideal and actual body shape, positive and negative affects. Eight of them were excluded from the analysis due to suspicion issue. Results. No significant main effect of image type or image type x perfectionism interaction effect was found. Females with higher personal standard consistently report lower body dissatisfaction (weight concern, sexual attractiveness and actual-ideal body shape discrepancy) and positive mood. Personal standard have been found to interact with the type of image presented to influence participant’s positive affect. Only females high in personal standard experienced less positive affect after viewing the model image, comparing to viewing product only, while female low in personal standard response similarly in both condition. Conclusion. The pattern is similar to the previous literature in a sense that perfectionism is correlated with body image or eating problems, but the role of perfectionism in development of eating problems is not clear. FMP scale may contain some subscales of perfectionism that is unrelated to the body image. The lower body dissatisfaction and better mood in females with higher personal standard might indicate that personal standard reflect the adaptive and positive aspect of perfectionism. In the present study, there is not enough evidence to fully explain the null result between two experiment conditions and only effect of brief exposure to the media was examined. In the future, study employing implicit measurement of self-evaluation and longitudinal studies are needed.