Document Type : Original Article
Authors
Department of Community Nutrition, School of Nutrition and food Science, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
Abstract
Introduction: A favorable or unfavorable attitude about self was named self esteem. According
to Maslow theory to achieve quality of life and happiness, one must reach the gradual
fulfillment of human needs, including a high degree of own self‑esteem. Body dissatisfaction
is a negative distortion of one’s body which is especially mentioned by the women. Many
studies have shown links between self esteem, body dissatisfaction, health and behaviors. this
study intends to determine relationship between body satisfaction, self esteem and unhealthy
weight control behaviors between women. Methods: This cross‑sectional study was done
on 408 women employees in Isfahan University and Isfahan University of Medical Sciences
during 1390. They were chosen according to the stratified random sampling method. Inclusion
criteria were 1) willing to participate in the study and 2) lack of serious physical defect 3) not
being in pregnancy or breastfeeding course. Exclusion criteria was filling out questionnaires
incompletely. Data collection tool was a multidimensional questionnaire which comprised of
4 sections as following: demographic (5items), A self‑administrative questionnaire for body
Satisfaction (7 items), Rosenberg Self‑Esteem Scale (10 items) and a standard Weight Control
Behavior Scale (18 items). Cranach’s alpha was 0.9 or higher for the different sections. Finally,
collected data was analyzed with SPSS18 using the independent T‑test, one‑way ANOVA,
Pearson correlation coefficient, regression, Spearman correlation. Results: Frequencies of
participants by weight category were 14.1% for obese, 35.3% for overweight, 47.6% for normal
weight. The mean body satisfaction score in the studied women was 63.26 ± 16.27 (from
100). Mean score of self esteem was 76.70 ± 10.45. 51.5% of women had medium self
esteem, 47.5% had high self esteem. Pearson correlation showed that the variables of body
Satisfaction (r = 0.3, P = 0.02), BMI (r = ‑ 0.14, P < 0.003), education level (r = 0.22, P < 0.001),
income (r = 0.14, P < 0.004), consumption of fruit (r = 0.13, P < 0.008) all correlated with
self‑esteem significantly. Women with higher self esteem used higher fruits had a good
nutrition overall (r = 0.11, P = 0.02). 92.15%, 10.8% of women respectively participated in one
of healthy and unhealthy weight control behavior. There was not any Relationship between
self esteem and healthy weight control behavior while finding showed reverse relationship
between self esteem and Unhealthy Dieting Behaviors.
Conclusion: It seemed women identity in our society tied
to social appreciations that formed and supported by body
satisfaction. When they feel their current appearance is
differ from ideal appearance, they feel down and have lower
self esteem and used unhealthy dieting behavior and low
fruits daily. Due to importance of precise self evaluation,
self esteem can be used to design and conduct public
health programs, especially for women.
Keywords
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