Does culture moderate the relationship between body dissatisfaction and quality of life? A comparative study of Australian and Malaysian emerging adults

Body image as a global mental health concern

Body image concerns related to weight or other dimensions of appearance are now prevalent on a global scale. This paper reviews the theoretical frameworks that account for the global similarities and regional differences in rates and presentation of body image concerns, as well as reviewing the extant data. Given the harmful consequences of body image concerns in terms of mental and physical health, their global burden is high. Interventions to mitigate these concerns at the individual and systemic level are warranted.

Dyadic Predictors of Child Body Shame in a Polish and Italian Sample

The present study aimed at assessing the predictors (related to the functioning of a parent-child dyad) of child body shame. Therefore, in the main analysis we examined relationships among child body shame, child perfectionism, child body dissatisfaction, parent body shame, parent perfectionism, and parent body dissatisfaction. In our main hypothesis we assumed that higher levels of the abovementioned parent functioning-related variables would be associated with higher child body shame after accounting for the effects of the foregoing child functioning-related variables. The analysis finally included complete data from 420 participants, i.e., a 115 Polish and 95 Italian parent-child dyad. Participants completed: (a) child: the Objectified Body Consciousness Scale for Youth, the Child-Adolescent Perfectionism Scale, the Children's Body Image Scale/the Figure Rating Scale; (b) parent: the Objectified Body Consciousness Scale, the Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale, and the Contour Drawing Rating Scale. The results of a correlational analysis show that in both the Polish and Italian samples, the higher the level of child body shame, the higher the level of the following variables: child perfectionism, child body dissatisfaction, parent perfectionism, and parent body dissatisfaction. Interestingly, the only insignificant relationship in both samples is the association between body shame in both members of the child-parent dyad. Moreover, all steps of the regressions were significant in both Polish and Italian samples. It turned out that only in the Italian sample were all predictors significantly associated with a child's body shame (in the Polish sample there was no significant association between child's body shame and parent's perfectionism). To sum up, the above studies show the importance of considering the functioning of the parent-child dyad in understanding child body shame. These findings suggest that parents' attitudes toward their bodies and their beliefs about an ideal self should be taken into account when planning interventions to improve children's and adolescents' attitudes toward their bodies. This is so because it is possible for children to internalize their parents' beliefs about how to look and how critical one should be of themselves, which can result in strong body shame when they are not perfect enough against the internalized ideal. Therefore, it is also necessary to make parents aware that children's attitude toward their body is often a reflection of parents' attitude toward the body.

Anxiety towards COVID-19, Fear of Negative Appearance, Healthy Lifestyle, and Their Relationship with Well-Being during the Pandemic: A Cross-Cultural Study between Indonesia and Poland

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to massive changes in almost all aspects of human life, including emotional states such as anxiety and fear, perspectives about healthy lifestyles, and psychological outcomes. This study aimed to disentangle the mechanisms that underlie the relationships of anxiety towards COVID-19 and fear of negative appearance with well-being, we also investigated the effects of cultural variations on levels of anxiety, fear of negative appearance, healthy lifestyles, and well-being. A total of 881 Indonesians (n = 172) and Poles (n = 709) participated in this study. Participants completed self-report measures of psychological well-being, anxiety, fear of negative appearance, compulsive exercise, and eating disorders. Multigroup structural equation modelling (SEM) was used. The results showed no statistically meaningful relationship between anxiety towards COVID-19 and well-being. However, it was found that, in the Polish sample, compulsive exercise and eating disorders mediated the relationship between fear of negative appearance and well-being. Cultural differences were also found in the mean scores of all examined constructs, with eating disorders being an exception. Therefore, this study highlights cultural aspects that determine emotional states, healthy lifestyles, and well-being.