Individual differences in coping with criticism of one's physical appearance among Taiwanese students

Abstract

When someone is criticized for some failure or deficiency, he or she is faced with a dilemma about whether or how to respond. To date, most research on responses to criticism has adopted a communication approach and has focused on general social complaints. The present study instead adopted the perspective of stress and coping and aimed to delineate possible responses to criticism pertaining to one's physical appearance. We investigated the efficacy of three coping styles, namely acceptance, avoidance, and retaliation in explaining emotional reactions towards such criticism, and we additionally controlled for personality characteristics, in particular assertion and harmony beliefs. A sample of Taiwanese university students (N = 300) was surveyed for their coping styles and psychological outcomes, and personality traits were examined as possible predictors of response options. We found that (1) acceptance, retaliation, and avoidance were three broad coping styles in this problematic social situation; (2) the individual trait of assertion was negatively related to the use of avoidance, while harmony beliefs were positively related to acceptance and avoidance, but negatively related to retaliation; and (3) the use of acceptance and avoidance were positively related to positive emotions, whereas retaliation was positively related to negative emotions. Males tended to use more acceptance. Implications of these findings were discussed in relation to existing studies of communication, stress and coping. Possible influences of the Chinese collectivist culture on people's responses to criticism were also delineated, such as valuing interpersonal harmony and face-work in social situations.

The Source and Impact of Appearance Teasing: An Examination by Sex and Weight Status Among Early Adolescents From the Czech Republic

“…At the individual level, they could help to not base self‐esteem on physical appearance but on other domains, like academic competence. Given that appearance teasing is widespread and more subtle and less overt ways of appearance teasing could persist, intervention initiatives should strength children's coping strategies and self‐efficacy to buffer the impact of these experiences, especially among girls and overweight adolescents . Finally, these initiatives should be integrated with other initiatives on health promotion.…”

“…Given that appearance teasing is widespread and more subtle and less overt ways of appearance teasing could persist, intervention initiatives should strength children's coping strategies and self-efficacy to buffer the impact of these experiences, especially among girls and overweight adolescents. 12,55,60,61 Finally, these initiatives should be integrated with other initiatives on health promotion. For instance, integrating the message that obesity is caused by several factors and is not exclusively under personal control.…”