The Relationships between body image, self-esteem, and future consumption behaviors of college students participating in sports

Abstract

Participation in sports activities help to establish positive body image. Therefore, this study aims to examine the relationships between body image, self-esteem, and future consumption behavior. To this end, college students who have experience in participating in sports activities were chosen and a questionnaire survey was conducted. A total of 280 questionnaires were distributed and 256 submissions were analyzed with frequency analysis, correlation analysis, and regression analysis. The results of this study are as follows: 1) among the sub-factors of body image, body satisfaction and appearance evaluation show statistically positive effects on self-esteem while appearance-oriented attitude does not show statistically significant effect. Second, the three sub-factors of body image do not have significant effects on future consumption behavior. Third, self-esteem has a positive effect on future consumption behavior. The results of this study show that establishing positive body image helps people to enhance their self-esteem and high self-esteem built based on positive body image, which is formed by participating in sports activities, provokes future consumption behavior. Therefore, further research examining the relationships between the variables of this study needs to be conducted and the findings will ultimately contribute to the growth of sports industry.