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Sociocultural Predictors of Physical Appearance Concerns among Adolescent Girls and Young Women from China

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Abstract

This research assessed the extent to which sociocultural predictors of body dissatisfaction implicated in Western studies extend to the prediction of physical appearance concerns among young women and adolescent girls in Southwest China. In Study 1, 408 Chinese university-age women completed measures of fatness concern (FC), facial appearance concerns (FAC), sociocultural influence (i.e., appearance pressure, comparison, teasing), and demographics. In hierarchical regression analyses, appearance pressure and comparison predicted both FC and FAC, independent of other factors. In Study 2, effects of appearance pressure and comparison were replicated among middle school (n = 346) and high school (n = 563) girls. Together, findings suggest that appearance pressure and social comparison correspond with specific body image concerns of young females in China.

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Acknowledgements

This project was supported a China National Key Laboratory grant for Southwest University (NSKD06014) to Todd Jackson, and grants from the China National Key Subject Foundation of Fundamental Psychology #04016 (SNKSF 04016) and Chongqing Key Research Program of Humanities and Social Sciences (05JWSK192) to Hong Chen.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Southwest University, Chongqing, China

    Todd Jackson & Hong Chen

  2. School of Psychology, James Cook University, Townsville, Australia

    Todd Jackson

  3. School of Psychology Southwest University, Chongqing, China

    Hong Chen

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  1. Todd Jackson
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  2. Hong Chen
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Correspondence to Hong Chen.

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Jackson, T., Chen, H. Sociocultural Predictors of Physical Appearance Concerns among Adolescent Girls and Young Women from China. Sex Roles 58, 402–411 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-007-9342-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-007-9342-x

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