Racial Identity and Gender as Moderators of the Relationship Between Body Image and Self-esteem for African Americans

Abstract

This study explored whether multiple dimensions of racial identity and gender moderated the relationship between body dissatisfaction and self-esteem for African American men and women (N=425) using an intersectional approach. Centrality (strength of identification with racial group), private regard (positive feelings about racial group), public regard (positive feelings others have about racial group), and gender moderated the relationship between body dissatisfaction and self-esteem for a sample of men (n=109) and women (n=316) college students from three regions of the United States. Body dissatisfaction was related to lower self-esteem only for those African Americans for whom race was less central to their identities. High private regard and low body dissatisfaction were synergistically associated with higher self-esteem. Similarly, low public regard and high body dissatisfaction were synergistically related to lower self-esteem. There was a positive main effect for assimilation ideology (emphasis on similarities between African Americans and Western society) on self-esteem; however it was not a significant moderator. The relationship between body dissatisfaction and self-esteem was stronger for women than for men. This study extends our knowledge of the ways in which racial attitudes and gender shape how African Americans experience their bodies and are related to self-esteem.

Fiction, Fashion, and Function Finale: An Introduction and Conclusion to the Special Issue on Gendered Body Image, Part III

“…This may be especially true for African American women who are challenged to maintain a healthy sense of self within a culture that views them as deviant from the thin and often White gendered body ideal (Henrickson et al 2010;Hesse-Biber 2004;Zhang et al 2009). In this issue, Oney et al (2011) explored whether gender and multiple dimensions of racial identity moderated the link between body dissatisfaction and self-esteem for African American women and men from three regions of the U.S. They found that the negative relationship between body dissatisfaction and self-esteem was stronger for women than for men, supporting assertions that U.S. women, regardless of ethnicity, are socialized to equate their overall self-worth with their appearance (Clark 2009;Fredrickson and Roberts 1997).…”

“…Importantly, Oney et al (2011) found that racial centrality (the extent to which being African American is an important aspect of identity) buffered the link between body dissatisfaction and self-esteem, such that body dissatisfaction was unrelated to self-esteem for African Americans who were high in racial centrality but negatively related to self-esteem for those low in racial centrality. Public regard (perceptions that other racial groups have positive feelings toward African Americans) buffered this relationship in the same fashion as racial centrality.…”

“…In this issue, media portrayals of women's bodies, as well as the diminished power and heightened sexuality associated with these portrayals, shape how women are viewed in the media by U.S. boys (Daniels and Wartena 2011) and older-age Australian women (Hine 2011). U.S. women also are socialized more than men to connect their self-worth to their body shape and size, making gendered body ideals particularly deleterious for women's well-being (Oney et al 2011). Also, there are gender-related differences in rates of being sexually objectified and how this objectification manifests in the body image of U.S. women and men of different sexual orientations (Engeln-Maddox et al 2011).…”

“…Individuals' unique combination of identities can shape the extent to which they attempt to construct their body to fit gendered body ideals as well as serve to enhance or constrict their well-being (Cole and Sabik 2009). For instance, Christina Oney et al (2011) found that African Americans who hold race as central to their identities tie less of their self-esteem to their body image, suggesting that a strong racial identity buffers body dissatisfaction's ill effects on self-esteem. In the U.S., body surveillance does not seem to be connected to heterosexual men's body shame; yet, these constructs are closely tied for heterosexual women, lesbian women, and gay men (Engeln-Maddox et al 2011).…”

“…These articles discuss how these gendered body ideals restrict the following: women's ability to have deep connections with their friends and partners as they talk about their bodies in disparaging ways (Payne et al 2010), men's perceptions of female athletes based on their attire and body positioning (Daniels and Wartena 2011), same-sex individuals' perceptions of themselves as parents (Pacilli et al 2011), pregnant women's freedoms (Sutton et al 2010) and perceptions of their bodies during pregnancy (Rubin and Steinberg 2011), African Americans' body image and self-esteem (Oney et al 2011), and older adult women's self-image and presence in the media (Hine 2011).…”