Body image and self-esteem across age and gender : a short-term longitudinal study

This study examined the relationship between body image and self-esteem across time and age for men and women. Participants were 150 men and 239 women aged between 20 and 86 years (M=59.73), recruited from the general population in Australia. They completed a questionnaire assessing self-esteem, body dissatisfaction, body importance, and a range of other domains of life satisfaction at baseline and 2 years later. Cross-sectionally, we found that higher self-esteem was associated with lower body dissatisfaction, but there was no consistent relationship between these variables across time for age and<br />gender. Women were more dissatisfied with their bodies than men; yet, men placed greater importance on their appearance than women, and also reported high levels of body dissatisfaction.<br />