Body-cathexis and self-esteem.

Abstract

The relation between self-esteem and body-cathexis has been studied extensively (Fisher, 1986). Secord and Jourard (1953) devised a measure of attitudes toward the body by asking people whether they had positive or negative feelings about different body parts. They found positive attitudes were related to self-esteem, although Rosen and Ross (1968) found that this held only for body items rated as important. The present study involved a factor analysis of correlations based on the responses of 32 male and 27 female college students aged 17 to 23 yr. (M = 19.2 yr., SD = 1.2) to Secord and Jourard's body-cathexis scale (and identified 11 factors using a principal components extraction with varimax rotation on SPSSX).' These factor scores were correlated with self-esteem as measured by Coopersmith's (1967) scale (M = 64.8, SD = 20.7). For women, self-esteem scores were correlated with a factor on which loadings were high for waist (loading 0.78), hips (0.75), and weight (0.77) (Pearson r = 0.35, p = .04). Imposing controls for age by using correlation coefficients, self-esteem was also correlated with a factor on which a high loading for distribution of body hair was observed (partial r = 0.41, p = .02). For men, self-esteem scores were correlated with factor scores on which loadings were high for voice (loading 0.78), resistance to illness (O.63), and profile (0.62) (Pearson r = 0.32, p = .04). The associations of self-esteem and body cathexis were different for the college men and women in this study and observed for only a limited number of the factors identified for body cathexis. However, this study needs to be replicated on a larger sample before the conclusions can be regarded as reliable. REFERENCES COOPERSMITH, S. (1967) The antecedents of selj-esteem. San Francisco, CA: Freeman. FISHER, S. (1986) Development and structure ofthe body image. Hillside, NY: Erlbaum. ROSEN, G . M., & ROSS, A. 0. (1968) Relationship of body image to self-concept. 1. consult. clin. Psychol., 32, 100. SECORD, P. F,, & JOURARD, S. M. (1953) The appraisal of body-cathexis. 1. consult. Psychol., 17, 343-347.