Physical Appearance Comparison and Self-Esteem among Late Adolescence and Emerging Adulthood

Abstract

The present study aimed to compare the physical appearance comparison and self-esteem among late adolescents and emerging adulthood. This study examined the relationship between these two variables. This also measures the difference among socio-demographic variables such as gender, domicile status. The tools that were used was Physical Appearance Comparison Scale (PCAS-R) and Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale. The participants enrolled for the study was 221, of which 200 sample data was used after data cleaning. The sample was selected through a convenience sampling method and an offline survey was used for data collection. The data obtained were analyzed using Spearman-correlation test, Mann-Whitney U test. The results were found such that physical appearance comparison is negatively correlated with self-esteem and there exists a significant difference in these variables among age group, gender and domicile status. Self-esteem is seem to be higher in males compared to females. Self-esteem is also higher in emerging adulthood compared to late adolescents. People hailing from rural area had lower level of self-esteem compared to people hailing from urban area.