Impact of Self-Objectification and Body Shame on Self-Esteem

Abstract

A lot have been said and seen about people making different kind of attempts to change at least some thing about their body. This attempts ranges from skin bleaching to cosmetology surgeries and lots more that borne out of body shaming and self-objectification. This study examines the impact of self-objectification and body shame on self-esteem and life satisfaction. 210 respondents were sampled through internet and SPSS was used to analysed the data obtained from them. The findings of the study revealed that body-shame is a serious phenomenon that exerts a negative influence life satisfaction but positively impact self-esteem. The study also found that self-objectification and life satisfaction has negative impact on self-esteem. Limitations and recommendation for further study discussed in this study.

Keywords: self-objectification, body shame, self-esteem and life satisfaction

 

1          CHAPTER 1 Introduction

1.1         Introduction

This chapter of the study introduces the background of the study, Problem statement, Research question and research objectives. Also, the scope and limitations of the research as well as the important of the research shall be discussed in this chapter. Lastly, the whole work done in this chapter shall be summarized and that concludes the whole layout for this chapter.

1.2         Background of study

Attaining self-esteem and life satisfaction is one main thing that everyone strives and work hard to achieve in life.  It became worrisome to realize that many people are still victims of low self-esteem and life satisfaction. Recently, several attempts have been made by scholars as regards the cause and impact of low self-esteem and unattainable life satisfaction.

(Aumend, 2007) submitted that self-esteem and series of related issues have been shown to have greater impact on the psychological health of women than men in today’s society.

One of the most important attributes that has an impact on social interactions and is also being noticed by others is Physical appearance (POP, 2016). Body image dissatisfaction has been construed to be the consequence of societal emphases on appearance which was reinforced through norms and media (Davidson, Hughes, Misiunaite, Hilvert, & Shuldiner, 2018).

In fact, today’s society has witnessed men and women in particular been seriously concerned about their appearance to the extent that they exert lot of effort in monitoring and managing their appearance (Thøgersen-Ntoumani, Ntoumanis, Cumming, Bartholomew, & Pearce, 2011). The rationale for prioritizing body importance cannot be far-fetched due to the rate at which people are being body-shamed. Also, poor body image may lower self-esteem which in turn negatively affect academic achievement in women (Fortman, The Effects of Body Image on Self-Efficacy, Self Esteem, and Academic Achievement, 2014)

It is imperative to set is clear that body shame is not the only factor that have impact self-esteem and life satisfaction. Self-objectification does too. Self-objectification is an act that occurs when individuals treat and sees themselves as objects to be viewed and evaluated based upon appearance (Rollero & Piccoli, 2017).  Self-esteem can refer to the overall self or to specific aspects of the self, such as how people feel about their social standing, racial or ethnic group, physical features, athletic skills, job or school performance. (Abdel-Khalek, 2016). It shouldn’t be difficult to realize that Self-objectification is indeed a phenomenon in psychology that have relegated lots of people to low self-esteem and life satisfaction. This was because self-objectification is found to be a maladaptive mental health issue (Liss & Erchull, Not hating what you see: Self-compassion may protect against negative mental health variables connected to self-objectification in college women, 2015).

Virtually of spheres of gatherings such as offices, congregations and schools have series of victims that are still battling currently with low self-esteem and life satisfaction. However, some causes of low self-esteem may be harder to identify than others, making it difficult to understand where it comes from.

1.3         Problem statement

Body shaming has been described by many scholars as the act of mocking or humiliating someone based on their physical appearance. The impact of this is that it often leads to low self-esteem, low body dissatisfaction, and depressive symptoms (Gam, Singh, Manar, Kar, & Gupta, 2020) in the same vein, Prior studies have shown that self-objectification can negatively affect body image in both women and men. However, it is not yet fully understood how to remove or reduce these negative effects (Ali & Mahler, 2018).

Over the years, series of attempts have been made by renowned scholars in the field of psychology as regards the Self-esteem and life satisfactions (Bunkers, 1983); (Thøgersen-Ntoumani, Ntoumanis, Cumming, Bartholomew, & Pearce, 2011); (Abdel-Khalek, 2016) a term used in psychology to reflect a person’s overall evaluation or appraisal of his or her own worth. Despite huge contribution that have been made in this field, review of related and existing literatures revealed that there are lots of gaps to be filled in order to augment the success that has been achieved about these phenomena.

A careful and critical review of literature has revealed that lots of attention (Hudson, 2008); (Chung, 2014); (Gatti, Ionio, Traficante, & Confalonier, 2014); (Dotse & Asumeng, 2014); (Davidson, Hughes, Misiunaite, Hilvert, & Shuldiner, 2018); (Tiwari, 2014);has been given to body image as the issue that influenced self-esteem. However, little or no attention; (Evans, 2010); (Rollero & Piccoli, 2017); has been given to body shame and self-objectification the factor that should be perceived to have real impact on self-esteem and life satisfaction. This study identified this as the first gap to be filled in this research.

Furthermore, it was revealed that scholars and researchers have associated self-esteem with gender while some literatures posit that self-esteem and self-objectification has to do with age as it can be obtained from the available literatures (Grabe, Hyde, & Lindberg, 2007); (Gupta, 2012); (Abamara & Agu., 2014). Hence, this study is set to conduct a research that will be devoid of gender bias and look into the impact of body-shame and self-objectification on self-esteem and life satisfaction between men and women in all age groups.

The last gap that this study identified and intends to fill is that up till now, there is no study that have examined the Impact of Self-Objectification and Body Shame on Self-esteem and Life Satisfaction which sets the uniqueness of this research amongst all other research that has been done in relation to self-esteem and self-objectification in the field of psychology.

It is in this regards that this study amongst other things set to fill the identified gap in order to be a source of reference for scholars and students and to contribute to existing literature.

1.4         Research Question

The main research question in this study refers to “What is the Impact of Self-Objectification and Body Shame on Self-esteem and Life Satisfaction?”. There are 4 specific research questions to be answered in this study.

  1. What is the influence of self-objectification on the self-esteem?
  2. What is the influence of self-objectification on the life satisfaction?
  3. What is the influence of body shame on the self-esteem?
  4. What is the influence of body shame of the life satisfaction?

1.5         Research Objective

The main objective in this study is to examine into the Impact of Self-Objectification and Body Shame on Self-esteem and Life Satisfaction. There are 4 research objectives to be discussed in this study.

  1. To examine into the influence of self-objectification on the self-esteem.
  2. To examine into the influence of self-objectification on the life satisfaction.
  3. To examine into the influence of body shame on the self-esteem.
  4. To examine into the influence of body shame of the life satisfaction.

1.6         Scope of study

The study intends to employ an electronic means of eliciting data by sending questionnaire to respondents online so as to contribute a high-quality research work. The study intended to only examine body shame and self-objectification amongst all factors that has to do with self-esteem and life satisfaction. Unlike previous studies that based their studies on women, the study seeks to incorporate both men and women of various age groups for this study. Participants can be from both genders and from any race living in Malaysia, while the target age shall be ranged within 18-30 years old.

1.7         Significance of research

The significance of a study of this nature cannot be overemphasized, most especially at this point in time where parents, guidance, corporations and international organizations are doing everything possible at their disposal to ensure that all human being regardless of their race, age and gender have a high self-esteem and life satisfaction.

  1. This study will be valuable as reference material for scholars interested in carrying out subsequent research in relation to what other researchers have contributed in the course of self-esteem and life-satisfaction.
  2. The study will be an eye-opener to all individuals with regards to the impact and influence of body shaming and self-objectification.
  • To the parents and guidance, understanding the factors that can impact self-esteem and self-objectification will be a cautious guide in the way they raise and treat their wards.

1.8         Summary

As set out in the introductory part of the chapter presents the study have addresses the context of the study, the statement of problems, objectives of the study and questions of research, significance of the study. Moreover, the scope of the study was also set out in this chapter of the study.

2          CHAPTER 2 literature review

2.1         Introduction

This chapter of the study focused on the review of related literatures by researchers and scholars as regards self-esteem and life satisfaction being the two dependent variables for this study. The results, findings and submissions of scholars about the impact of body-shame and self-objectification on the two dependent variables and other related issues were reviewed in this study. The chapter incorporate objectification theory as the theory suitable to set basis for this study and the theoretical frame work that is considered relevant for the study will be presented in the latter part of the chapter while the hypotheses to be tested in the latter chapter will be presented too.

2.2         Objectification Theory

Objectification theory, originally propounded and developed by the duo of (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997) has been regarded as an influential theory in the field of psychology. The theory posits that in the modern world, appearance is the basis at which women’s foundational experience is being evaluated. The duo submitted that to objectify is to make into and treat something that is not an object as an object, which can be used, manipulated, controlled, and known through its physical properties. This led to the concept of self-objectification.

Self-objectification according to (Calogero, 2012), was conceptualized as the adoption of a third-person perspective on the self as opposed to a first-person perspective such that girls and women come to place greater value on how they look to others rather than on how they feel or what they can do. Self-objectification according to (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997), is considered as the first psychological consequence to emerge among girls and women as a result of living in a sexually objectifying cultural milieu.

Women are aware of the potential of being looked at and judged by people around them. As a result, many women end up placing high priority on their physical appearance, deriving self-worth and happiness from it (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997). However, (Zurbriggen, 2013), made the much-needed clarity to the theory that although, self-objectification is often an explicitly sexual gaze that is directed toward women, objectification theory does not focus solely on sexuality, but on appearance more broadly. The self-objectifying woman strives to be attractive, but not necessarily to attract sexual partners or attention.

2.3         Independent Variables

2.3.1        Self-Objectification

Self-objectification is an act that occurs when individuals treat and sees themselves as objects to be viewed and evaluated based upon appearance (Rollero & Piccoli, 2017). It is a phenomenon that has gained lots of attention by scholars and researchers in the field of psychology. Over the years, series of studies have been carried out by researchers in order to examine the impact of self-objectification on various key issues of psychology.

(Ali & Mahler, 2018), are among the numerous researchers that have investigated the impact of self-objectification. The duo carried out a research titled “Self-Affirmation Intervention to Remove Negative Effects Due to Self-Objectification” and found that it may be useful to focus on nonappearance-related values in the course of improving general body image due to the fact that  affirmation intervention reduced participants’ drive for thinness. They concluded that self-objectification did not have a statistically significant effect on drive to thinness or drive for muscularity.

(Burdette, 2014), carried out a research with the sole purpose of examining the relevance of self-objectification and self-surveillance to body dissatisfaction and self-worth by drawing samples among low-income African American and Latina girls.  The study found that self-objectification has no main effects on its own; however, it was found that self-objectification and self-surveillance were related.

Among those researchers that also contributed their quotas to literatures as regards self-objectification is the duo of (Liss & Erchull, Not hating what you see: Self-compassion may protect against negative mental health variables connected to self-objectification in college women, 2015). They opined that Self-objectification is related to maladaptive mental health variables, but perceived that little is known about what could ameliorate self-objectification. This led them to embark on a study as regards self-objectification, they found that there is a negative but weaker relationship between self-objectification and negative body.

(Tiggemann & Slater, 2017), also examined the predictors and consequences of self-objectification. The study collected a sample of 204 girls by collecting data from them through questionnaire. They employed structural modelling for the analysis and found that self-objectification plays a significant role in the mental health of early adolescent girls. In addition, the results of the study revealed that magazine, body-shame, Internet exposure and appearance conversations with friends are part of those factors that predicted self-objectification.

Going by the reviewed literatures, it can be concluded upon that self-objectification is one of the important discuss in the field of psychology. Hence, this study seeks to deviate a bit from the objectives of other researchers by examining the impact of self-objectification on self-esteem and life satisfaction.

2.3.21       Body Shame

Body-shaming has been described by many scholars as the act of mocking or humiliating someone based on their physical appearance. This particular issue is now among the main issues in the global health topic. It is no more peculiar to region; race or gender as people of the same race, gender and region are found to be body shaming themselves. As an attempt to ameliorate the harm caused by this issue, series of researches have been carried out by scholars.

(Grabe, Hyde, & Lindberg, 2007), carried out a longitudinal form of research with the sole aim of investigating the role of body shame and rumination on self-objectification and depression among girls and boys within the age bracket of 11-13 years old. They found that unlike the boys, adolescent girls are in most cases the victims of body-shaming and concluded that the findings supports a model in which body shame and rumination mediate a direct relation between self-objectification and depression among girls.

(Fortman, The Effects of Body Image on Self-Efficacy, Self Esteem, and Academic Achievement, 2006), opined that poor body image may lower self-esteem and carried out a correlational design research to examine the impact of body-shame on self-esteem and academic achievement. The study found through a structural equation modelling that body-image did have effect on female’s self-esteem among but have no impact on their academic achievement. Apart from that, an interesting result that called for further study was found as male’s body-image have no effect on their self-esteem.

(Frederick, 2016), in his attempt to add to the existing background knowledge on body image disturbances and the role of self-esteem plays in the development of such issues embarked on a study that sampled one hundred and four students from a Midwestern university. The study found that there is a strong, positive correlation between body and self-esteem amongst other findings.

Findings from the study of (Dotse & Asumeng, 2014), revealed that there is significant positive relationship between body-image satisfaction and psychological well-being with Africentric values moderating the relationship as hypothesized. Besides that, it was found that males were more satisfied with their body image than females.

The goal of the study that was conducted by (Marta-Simões, Ferreira, & Mendes, 2016), was to explore the effect of external shame on body appreciation in a sample of Portuguese young adults. The study found through path analysis that external shame holds a significant effect on body appreciation, both directly and indirectly.

(Abamara & Agu., 2014), investigated the relationship between body image and self-esteem among female undergraduate students of behavioural sciences using correlational design. It was found that body-image was significantly related to self-esteem.

 

2.4         Dependent Variable

2.4.1        Self-esteem

The ways an individual think, feel, act, accept, respect, and believe in him/herself is widely regarded as self-esteem. Its role has spawned a research of such magnitude and richness literature that is impossible to summarize (Abdel-Khalek, 2016).  Its importance can never be overemphasised in psychological functioning which makes it a central construct in clinical, development, personality and social psychology that has been studied for more than a century.

Lots of lessons, benefits and the reasons for everyone to have a high self-esteem have been discussed by numerous speakers and motivational speakers. These reasons and importance are so important that no one could afford not to maintain such self-esteem. Few of the reasons for maintaining high self-esteem have been well articulated by (VA Health Care, 2014).

There is dearth of empirical literatures as regards the impact of body-shaming and self-objectification on self-esteem, however, some researchers have made lots of attempt to examine the impacts of some relevant factors on self-esteem.

(Shahyad, Pakdaman, & Shokri, 2015), carried out a research in order to investigate the relationship that exist between self-esteem and body dissatisfaction. The trio found that there exist inverse relationship between self-esteem and body-dissatisfaction and self-esteem and concluded that self-esteem significantly correlates with body dissatisfaction but in a negative direction.

(Gatti, Ionio, Traficante, & Confalonier, 2014) employed a SEM analyses in their study and found that good self-esteem is reached through good body-satisfaction due to the fact that there are different trajectories in male and female individuals.

(Evans, 2010), conducted his own research on body shaming by building on the existing theoretical links between body shame and hopelessness. The study found a strong relationship between body-shaming and hopelessness. It was further revealed that the relationship between self-objectification and depression was mediated by body shame.

(Choma, Visser, Pozzebon, Bogaert, Busseri, & Sadava, 2010), conduct a research to test the mediating roles of body shame and appearance anxiety in the relation between self-surveillance and self-esteem; and to investigate whether gender (male, female) and stereotypical gender roles (masculinity, femininity) moderated the proposed mediation model. Regression analyses was used to analyse the data obtained from the 198 respondents and it was found that greater self-surveillance predicted lower self-esteem, and this relation was fully mediated by body shame and appearance anxiety.

In overall, self-esteem remains one of the psychological issues that are of interest to everyone. Review of existing literature implies that this particular issue still needed to be explored in order to proffer a sustainable solution for so many people.

2.4.2        Life satisfaction

There is no generally acceptable concept or definition for life satisfaction, however, (Ackerman, 2020), conceptualized it as an individual’s overall feelings about his or her life. She however expressed further that life satisfaction is the general feelings that we have about our life and how pleased we are with how it’s going. Several factors that can influence life satisfaction have been influenced by scholars, particularly in the in the field of psychology. However, few of it has been examined empirically.

Self-objectification has been found to predict low life satisfaction in young adult women. To establish this fact, (Jarrar, 2017), carried out a cross-sectional design research to investigate how self-objectification and ruminative coping are related to life satisfaction in young women. A multiple regression analysis was conducted and it was found that there is negative relationship between self-objectification and life satisfaction.

As it can be concluded from the review of related and relevant literature, there is dearth of literature as regards life satisfaction in the field of psychology. This may be due to the fact that people often perceive life satisfaction as though it is also happiness. It is in this light that this study seeks to explore the concept of life satisfaction by investigating what impacts does body-shame and self-objectification has on it.

2.5         Conceptual Framework and Research Hypotheses

H1: Self-objectification has significant influence on the self-esteem.

H2: Self-objectification has significant influence on the life satisfaction.

H3: Body shame has significant influence on the self-esteem.

H4: Body shame has significant influence on the life satisfaction.

2.6         Summary

As mentioned in the introductory part of this chapter, this chapter has conceptualized in a carefully manner, all the relevant phenomena that have to do with self-esteem and life satisfaction. Extensive review of literatures from relevant journals was presented in this chapter and the theoretical framework that underpins this study was also clearly stated. Furthermore, objectification-theory was reviewed and adopted in this chapter and the development of the research hypotheses was formulated in this study.

3          CHAPTER 3: methodology

3.1         Introduction

This chapter aims to discuss about the necessary procedures to conduct the research. Various elements, such as research philosophy, design, sampling strategy, research instrument and data collection will be discussed. Moreover, data analysis method is then discussed in the last section in this chapter.

3.2         Research Philosophy

Since this research aims to explore the fact via observation and experimentation based on the findings gained from the research, positive philosophy is adopted (Ryan, 2018). Hence, the main emphasis in this study is to mainly generate outcome using scientific approaches, such as survey questionnaire, in which the responses collected would be considered objective (Majeed, 2019). The researcher in this study will be deemed independent of the research, which significantly avoids subjective bias from the researcher itself (Alharahsheh & Pius, 2020).

3.3         Research Design

Since this research aims to gain knowledge about certain scientific fact using the independent variables (self-objectification and body shame) and dependent variable (self-esteem and life satisfaction), quantitative research design is adopted in this study (Apuke, 2017). For instance, the researcher develops survey questionnaire (e.g., Google Form) to measure the variables involved in this study. Quantitative research approach is deemed as a positivist method that seeks to collect quantifiable data and then measured through statistical analysis to validate a claim made in a study (Wisdom & Creswell, 2013). In this study, the selection of 2 independent variables and 2 dependent variable leads to four different hypotheses (claim), and thus the quantitative research method is ideal to provide researcher with the observable facts via the use of survey questionnaire. As a result, this leads to the collection of primary data in this study.

3.4         Sampling Strategy and Data Collection Method

A total of 210 participants were recruited online by sending a recruitment post on social media platforms. Participants were from both genders and from any race. Participants were all Malaysians, age ranged 18-30 years old. Participants who are medically diagnosed with food disorder such as Anorexia Nervosa patients and Bulimia Nervosa patients within the last 6 months were excluded. Purposive sampling technique is used to target the respondents, as only the respondents fulfilled certain criteria or attribute shall be targeted (Wu Suen et al., 2014). Since survey questionnaire is used, primary data is prioritized in this study, as it contains the uniqueness that can present the topic discussed in this research with the most up-to-date information (Bradley, 2013).

3.5         Research instrument with ethical concerns

Online survey questionnaire is used in this study, such as Google Form to provide the measurement for the independent variables (self-objectification and body shame) and dependent variable (self-esteem and life satisfaction). The Google form link is expected to be distributed on the social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram or WhatsApp that plays vital role among the youngsters (especially those 18-30 years old).

The first section of the survey contained two parts. The first part was an information sheet which included the purpose of the study, their rights as participants, the participants’ confidentiality, the researcher’s and the supervisor’s details and the second part was participant consent form. After the participants agreed to take part in the study, they would be directed to the second section of the survey which contained demographic questions which asked about their gender, age, nationality, height, weight and more. Then, the third section would be Self-Surveillance subscale of the Objectified Body Consciousness Scale for Youth and the fourth section was the body shame subscale of the Objectified Body Consciousness Scale for Youth After that, the fifth section was Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale and the sixth section was Satisfaction with Life Scale

Lastly, they would be led to a debriefing sheet which stated the purpose of the study, confidentiality and contact information of the researcher and qualified clinicians. Moreover, the debriefing sheet will also inform about the end of participation from the survey. If any of the participants did not agree to participate, they will be directed to the end of the survey which with appreciation given on willingness of participation. There was no compensation for the participants and the survey shall take approximately 10 to 20 minutes.

3.6         Measurement of Scale

3.6.1        Self-Objectification

Self-objectification was measured by The Objectified Body Consciousness Scale for Youth (Lindberg, Shibley Hyde & McKinley, 2006). The self-surveillance subscale which included 4 items was used in this current study. Responses to items were presented on a 7-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree to 7 = strongly agree). Internal consistencies (coefficient alpha) for Surveillance scale was .88.

3.6.2        Body Shame

Body shame was measured by The Objectified Body Consciousness Scale for Youth (Lindberg, Shibley Hyde & McKinley, 2006). The body shame subscale which included 5 items was used in this current study. Responses to items were presented on a 7-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree to 7 = strongly agree). Internal consistencies (coefficient alpha) for Body Shame scale was .79.

3.6.3        Self-Esteem

Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale (RSES; Rosenberg, 1965) measured feelings of self-worth and self-acceptance. The scale was composed of 10 items, 5 of which were negatively worded and uses a 4-point scale (1 = strongly agree to 4 = strongly disagree). The one-week test-retest correlation coefficient was .82, and coefficient alpha was .88.

3.6.4        Life-Satisfaction

The Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS; Diener, Emmons, Larsen & Griffin, 1985) was developed to measure global life satisfaction as a cognitive-judgmental process. It was a five-item scale. Items were rated on a 7-point scale (1 = strongly disagree to 7 = strongly agree). The two-month test-retest correlation coefficient was .82, and coefficient alpha was .87.

3.7         Data analysis methods

The data collected in this study would be analysed via SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) version 26. Firstly, the researcher will conduct a pilot test that comprises of 20-30 small sample size to validate the research instrument before delving into full survey questionnaire (Schattner & Mazza, 2006). After the full data is collected, the researcher will then conduct descriptive statistics to analyse about the respondents’ demographic profile and central tendency of the variables involved. The researcher will ensure all the construct used is revealing high inter-consistency, via the reliability test that uses Cronbach’s Alpha as the indicator (0.7 and above is the boundary value) (Taber, 2018). In addition, the researcher will conduct Pearson Correlation and Multiple Linear Regression Tests act as the inferential analysis methods for validation of hypothesis testing for the relationship between self-objectification, body shame, self-esteem and life satisfaction (Kasuya, 2019).

3.8         Summary

In overall, the researcher has adopted quantitative research design in this study, following the positive paradigm. A total of 200 Malaysian respondents that aged between 18 to 30 years are expected to become the target respondents in this study, and would be targeted via purposive sampling techniques via Online Google Form. The collected data will be analysed using SPSS machine afterwards.

4          CHAPTER 4 RESULTS AND FINDINGS

4.1         Introduction

There is a total of 214 respondents’ data successfully collected in this study, despite the expected sample size was identified as 200. In this chapter, various data analyses tests that were conducted via SPSS are presented in summarized form, such as in table and figure format accordingly. Descriptive and inferential analysis test are both discussed in this study for clarification.

4.2         Normality Testing

  • Table 4.1 Skewness and Kurtosis
Descriptive Statistics
N Skewness Kurtosis
Statistic Statistic Std. Error Statistic Std. Error
SO_AVERAGE 214 -.425 .166 -.305 .331
BS_AVERAGE 214 .017 .166 -.682 .331
SE_DV_AVERAGE 214 .846 .166 1.019 .331
LS_DV_AVERAGE 214 -.026 .166 -.424 .331
Valid N (listwise) 214

 

4.2.1        Self-objectification, Body Shame and Self-Esteem

  • Figure 4.1 Normal P-P Plot (SO, BS, SE)
  • Figure 4.2 Scatterplot (SO, BS, SE)

4.2.2        Self-objectification, Body Shame and Life Satisfaction

  • Figure 4.3 Normal P-P Plot (SO, BS, LS)
    • Figure 4.4 Scatterplot (SO, BS, LS)

4.3         Demographic profile analysis

  • Table 4.2 Demographic Profile Analysis

4.4         Reliability Test

  • Table 4.3 Cronbach Alpha Test
Variables for construct No. of item Related Cronbach’s Alpha (α)
Self-objectification 4 0.828
Body Shame 5 0.839
Self-Esteem 10 0.551
Life Satisfaction 5 0.876

 

4.5         Pearson Correlation

4.5.1        Self-objectification, Body Shame and Self-Esteem

  • Table 4.4 Correlational Table for SO, BS and SE
Correlations
SO_AVERAGE BS_AVERAGE SE_DV_AVERAGE
SO_AVERAGE Pearson Correlation 1
Sig. (2-tailed)
BS_AVERAGE Pearson Correlation .680** 1
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
SE_DV_AVERAGE Pearson Correlation .057 .209** 1
Sig. (2-tailed) .408 .002
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

 

4.5.2        Self-objectification, Body Shame and Life Satisfaction

  • Table 4.5 Correlational Table for SO, BS and LS
Correlations
SO_AVERAGE BS_AVERAGE LS_DV
SO_AVERAGE Pearson Correlation 1
Sig. (2-tailed)
BS_AVERAGE Pearson Correlation .680** 1
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
LS_DV Pearson Correlation -.327** -.317** 1
Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .000
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

 

4.6         Multiple Linear Regression

4.6.1        Self-objectification, Body Shame and Self-Esteem

  • Table 4.6 Model Summary

 

Model Summaryb
Model R R Square Adjusted R Square Std. Error of the Estimate
1 .239a .057 .048 .41965
a. Predictors: (Constant), BS_AVERAGE, SO_AVERAGE
b. Dependent Variable: SE_DV_AVERAGE

 

  • Table 4.7 ANOVA Table
ANOVAa
Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
1 Regression 2.248 2 1.124 6.381 .002b
Residual 37.159 211 .176
Total 39.407 213
a. Dependent Variable: SE_DV_AVERAGE
b. Predictors: (Constant), BS_AVERAGE, SO_AVERAGE
  • Table 4.8 Coefficient Table
Coefficientsa
Model Unstandardized Coefficients Standardized Coefficients t Sig.
B Std. Error Beta
1 (Constant) 2.281 .110 20.682 .000
SO_AVERAGE -.052 .030 -.159 -1.738 .084
BS_AVERAGE .092 .027 .317 3.470 .001
a. Dependent Variable: SE_DV_AVERAGE

4.6.2        Self-objectification, Body Shame and Life Satisfaction

  • Table 4.9 Model Summary
Model Summaryb
Model R R Square Adjusted R Square Std. Error of the Estimate
1 .352a .124 .116 1.16386
a. Predictors: (Constant), BS_AVERAGE, SO_AVERAGE
b. Dependent Variable: LS_DV_AVERAGE

 

  • Table 4.10 ANOVA Table

 

ANOVAa
Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
1 Regression 40.397 2 20.199 14.911 .000b
Residual 285.815 211 1.355
Total 326.213 213
a. Dependent Variable: LS_DV_AVERAGE
b. Predictors: (Constant), BS_AVERAGE, SO_AVERAGE

 

  • Table 4.11 Coefficient Table
Coefficientsa
Model Unstandardized Coefficients Standardized Coefficients t Sig.
B Std. Error Beta
1 (Constant) 5.893 .306 19.261 .000
SO_AVERAGE -.194 .082 -.208 -2.362 .019
BS_AVERAGE -.147 .074 -.176 -2.001 .047
a. Dependent Variable: LS_DV_AVERAGE

 

4.7         Hypothesis Testing

  • Table 4.12 Hypothesis Testing Table
Hypotheses Made P-Value Accepted / Rejected
H1: Self-objectification has significant influence on the self-esteem.

 

0.084 Rejected
H2: Self-objectification has significant influence on the life satisfaction.

 

0.019 Accepted
H3: Body shame has significant influence on the self-esteem.

 

0.001 Accepted
H4: Body shame has significant influence on the life satisfaction.

 

0.047 Accepted

 

4.8         Summary

 

4.9

5          CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

 

5.1         Introduction

This chapter presents all logical conclusions derived from the findings and make suggestions and recommendation based on the researcher’s findings on the main objective of this study which is to examine the impact of self-objectification and body shame on self-esteem and life satisfaction

The first part of this chapter addresses discussion on the objectives of the study from the findings, the second part of this chapter focused on the theoretical and management implications of the study while the last part addresses the recommendation policies. Suggestion for further study shall also be pointed out.

5.2         Discussion of Research Questions

This section entails what the whole study is all about. It presents the answers to the research questions by relating the findings from the previous chapters with each objective of this study.

5.2.1        What is the influence of self-objectification on the self-esteem?

The findings from the preceding chapter of the study revealed that self-objectification although statistically insignificant @ 5% has a negative impact on self-esteem. What this implies is that holding all other variables constant, a percent increase in self-objectification will negatively impact self-esteem by 0.159 percent. This kind of findings has not been found by any scholars before. However, the findings is related with the submission of the duo of (Liss & Erchull, Not hating what you see: Self-compassion may protect against negative mental health variables connected to self-objectification in college women, 2015), which found that there is negative but weaker relationship between self-objectification and negative body. Due to dearth of empirical studies as regards self-objectification, the study is constrained in comparing and verifying the findings of the study with other researcher’s result. Based on the correlation coefficient, it can be deduced that there is a positive but moderate relationship between self-objectification and self-esteem. The alternative hypothesis that Self-objectification has significant influence on the self-esteem was not accepted and it was concluded that Self-objectification has no significant influence on the self-esteem.

5.2.2        What is the influence of self-objectification on the life satisfaction?

The findings from the preceding chapter of the study revealed that self-objectification has a negative impact on life satisfaction. The result is statistically significant @ 5% level of significance. What this implies is that holding all other variables constant, a percent increase in self-objectification will negatively impact life satisfaction by 2.362 percent. This findings is perfectly in line with the result of (Jarrar, 2017), who carried out a cross-sectional design research to investigate how self-objectification and ruminative coping are related to life satisfaction in young women and found that there is negative relationship between self-objectification and life satisfaction.

From the pearson correlation coefficient, it can be deduced that there is a negative but moderate relationship between self-objectification and life-satisfaction. The alternative hypothesis that Self-objectification has significant influence on the life satisfaction was accepted and it was concluded that Self-objectification has significant influence on the life satisfaction.

5.2.3        What is the influence of body shame on the self-esteem?

It was revealed from the results that that body-shame has a positive impact on self-esteem. The result is statistically significant @ 5% level of significance which makes it become worrisome and a point that should be looked into for further study as it is contradicting A priori expectations. What this implies is that holding all other variables constant, a percent increase in body-shame will positively impact self-esteem by 0.317 percent. This result despite the fact that it is significant contradicts existing results of (Shahyad, Pakdaman, & Shokri, 2015), who carried out a research in order to investigate the relationship that exist between self-esteem and body dissatisfaction and found that there exist inverse relationship between self-esteem and body-dissatisfaction and self-esteem and concluded that self-esteem significantly correlates with body dissatisfaction but in a negative direction.

From the pearson correlation coefficient, it can be deduced that there is a strong positive relationship between body-shame and self-esteem. The alternative hypothesis that body-shame has significant influence on the self-esteem was accepted and it was concluded that body-shame has significant influence on the self-esteem.

5.2.4        What is the influence of body shame on the life satisfaction?

As expected, it was revealed from the results that that body-shame has a negative influence on life satisfaction. The result is statistically significant @ 5% level of significance and also supports A priori expectations. What this implies is that holding all other variables constant, a percent increase in body-shame will negatively impact life satisfaction by 0.176 percent. This result is in line with the findings of (Marta-Simões, Ferreira, & Mendes, 2016) and (Abamara & Agu., 2014).

From the pearson correlation coefficient, it can be deduced that there is a strong relationship between body-shame and life satisfaction. The alternative hypothesis that body-shame has significant influence on the life was accepted and it was concluded that body-shame has significant influence on the life satisfaction.

5.3         Implication of study

5.3.1        Theoretical Implication

This research work has contributed to existing theories and existing literature in order to improve people’s self-esteem and life-satisfaction. It makes significant contribution towards examining the factors that could influence self-esteem and life satisfaction. To the best of the researcher’s knowledge, there is no previous studies that have examined the influence of body-shame and self-objectification on two different dependent variables in a study. The findings from this study is worthy of adopting as a reference guide for parents and guidance in order to help correct self-esteem defect of their wards. Although, some findings from this study contradicts with A priori expectations and results from previous research, lot of the findings in this study has offered clarity about some phenomena and their influence.

5.3.2        Managerial Implication

A lot have been said and seen about people making different kind of attempts to change at least some thing about their body. This attempts ranges from skin bleaching to cosmetology surgeries and lots more that borne out of body shaming and self-objectification. Considering the adverse effects of self-objectification and body-shaming on individuals in today’s society it became imperative to proffer lasting and sustainable suggestions to parents, guidance and others at the realms of affairs implies that changes must occur both on an individual and societal level to decrease the incongruent feeling not espoused by our culture in order to mitigate the effect of body-shaming and self-objectification.

5.4         Limitation of Study

The findings and contributions of the study are to some extent constrained by certain limitations, some of which provide opportunities for further research. To begin with, the study in this research is focusing respondents that are between the age of 18 to 30 years old without considering the fact that self-esteem is an issue that begins mostly in the earlier stage of life. Also, body-shaming is common among pupils in junior schools, the potential respondents that this study has assumed away.

Also, the study collected data through internet, a very good means, but a one-on-one means of data collection would have been best since the elicitor can determine if the respondents fits into the study or not when they are cited.

5.5         Recommendations for Future study

From the identified limitations, the study draws some recommendations for future researchers that will be interested in working in this field to improve. Firstly, the study focused more on respondents whose age may suggest that though they might have battled with self-esteem and life satisfaction before, but not now due to the fact that they are old enough to tackle this. This study recommend that future study should focus more on respondents that are still in school as they are likely to reveal all the forms of body-shaming that they have been exposed to More so, future research can improve the study by eliciting the data through a field survey. This is assumed to offer the elicitor a clear view of the respondent’s body shape which can be used to determine if such respondents can fit in well to the study.

5.6         Conclusion of study

The objectives of the study was to examine the influence of self-objectification on the self-esteem, influence of self-objectification on the life satisfaction, influence of body shame on the self-esteem, influence of body shame of the life satisfaction.

All the objectives were achieved. Observed limitations that can mitigate the purpose of embarking on this study have been identified for further recommendation.