Upward Physical Appearance Comparison, Photo Manipulation and Body Esteem Among University Students

Abstract

The present study investigated the relationship between upward physical appearance comparison, photo-editing behavior, and body esteem among university students. There were 320 participants between the age range of 18-25 years, 125 of whom are men and 195 are women. A total of three instruments were used in the process of data collection; those were Upward Physical Appearance Comparison Scale by O’Brien (2009) , Photo Manipulation Scale by McLean (2015) and Body Esteem Scale by Mendelson and White (1982). Pearson product moment and multiple linear regression analysis was carried out to assess the relationship between the study variables and the predictive role of upward physical appearance comparison and photo manipulation on body-esteem, respectively. Results revealed that upward physical appearance comparison and photo manipulation were significantly negatively correlated with body esteem. Moreover, upward physical appearance comparison was a significant negative predictor of body-esteem, whereas photo manipulation was a non-significant predictor of body esteem among university students