Social Comparison: Gender, Target Importance Ratings, and Relation to Body Image Disturbance
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1992
Keywords
sex, target importance in social comparison & relation to body image & eating disturbances, college students
Abstract
Asked 189 female and 108 male undergraduates to rate the importance of 6 groups (e.g., family, friends) as comparison targets for 7 attributes (e.g., figure/physique, intelligence). Factor analysis of the 42 ratings yielded 3 components, largely reflecting a particularistic-universalistic comparison target dimension rather than an attributional configurement. Factor analysis was also conducted on pooled target ratings for the 7 attributes. Gender by target effects emerged, indicating male–female differences in comparison tendencies. Strong gender differences emerged when factor scores were correlated with indices of body dissatisfaction and eating disturbance, reflecting significant relationships only for females. Findings indicate that the ascribed importance of a comparison group is a better predictor of body image disturbance than is the similarity between the S and the comparison target.
Was this content written or created while at USF?
Yes
Citation / Publisher Attribution
Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, v. 7, issue 2, p. 335-344
Scholar Commons Citation
Heinberg, Leslie J. and Thompson, Joel K., "Social Comparison: Gender, Target Importance Ratings, and Relation to Body Image Disturbance" (1992). Psychology Faculty Publications. 2120.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/psy_facpub/2120
