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SELF-ESTEEM AND SELF-PERCEPTIONS OF ATTRACTIVENESS IN
ASIAN, BLACK, AND WHITE WOMEN:
THE MEDIATING ROLE OF SELF-DISCREPANCY
By

Peggy Pui Kei Chin

A MASTER’S THESIS

Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

MASTER OF ARTS
Department of Psychology

1999

ABSTRACT
SELF-ESTEEM AND SELF-PERCEPTIONS OF A'I'I'RACTIVENESS IN
ASIAN, BLACK, AND WHITE WOMEN:
THE MEDIATING ROLE OF SELF-DISCREPANCY
By
Peggy Pui Kei Chin

This study examined the relationship between traditional feminine gender role
identification and ethnic identity on change in self-esteem after exposure to cultural
standards of beauty in Asian, Black and White women. Results indicated that traditional
feminine gender role identification was unrelated to changes in self-esteem after viewing
cultural standards of beauty. Moreover, ethnic identity was tmrelated to change in self-
esteem in Black women, but was related to a greater drop in self-esteem for Asian women
with low ethnic identity. Additional analyses showed race differences in how Asian,
Black, and White women responded to cultural standards of beauty. Implications of these

results and directions for future research are discussed.

Cepyright by
PEGGY PUI KEI CHIN
1999

This thesis is dedicated to my parents, Wu On and Lai Kuen Chin.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Many thanks to my Master’s committee members, Linda Jackson and Norb Kerr,
and everyone else who has supported me throughout the writing of this thesis. Special
thanks to Amani El-Alayli, who has been there with me and for me every step of the way,
and David Evans, who makes me a stronger person with his abundant love and
encouragement. Most importantly, thank you to Allen McConnell, my mentor, who has lit

a fire under my intellectual curiousity and keeps me striving to become a better academic.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................... vii
LIST. OF FIGURES ................................................................................ viii
INTRODUCTION .................................................................................... 1
METHOD ................................................................................................ 14
RESULTS ................................................................................................ 23
DISCUSSION .......................................................................................... 30
CONCLUSIONS ...................................................................................... 37
APPENDICES:
Appendix A - Bem’s Sex Role Inventory ....................................... 38
Appendix B - Racial Identity Attitudes Scale-B ............................. 39
Appendix C -White Racial Identity Attitude Scale ......................... 41
Appendix D - Collective Self-Esteem Scale ................................... 43
Appendix E - Body Esteem Scale .................................................. 44
Appendix F - Ratings Of Yearbook Photographs ........................... 45
Appendix G - Selves Questionnaire ............................................... 46
Appendix H - Need For Uniqueness Scale ..................................... 50
Appendix I - Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale ................................ 52
REFERENCES ........................................................................................ 63

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1 - Means And Standard Deviations For All Variables .................... 53
Table 2 - Correlations Among Variables For All Subjects ......................... 54
Table 3 - Correlations Among Variables For Asians ................................. 5 5
Table 4 - Correlations Among Variables For Blacks ................................. 56
Table 5 - Correlations Among Variables For Whites ................................. 57

Table 6- Summary Of Hierarchical Regression Analysis For
Variables Predicting Self Body Esteem. ..................................... 58

Table 7- Racial Differences Among Asian, Black, And White Women ...... 59

Table 8- T-Tests For Race Of Photgraphs Simple Effects ......................... 60

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1 - SelfBody Esteem Regressed On Change In Self-Esteem For
Asians, Blacks, And Whites ...................................................... 61

INTRODUCTION

All the world had agreed that a blue-eyed, yellow-haired, pink- skinned doll was what
every girl treasured. “Here,” they said, “this is beautifirl, and if you are on this day
‘worthy’ you may have it.”

Toni Morrison

The Bluest Eye (pp.20-21)

For many women, being called “beautiful” by others is the pinnacle of flattery.
Although men also presumably like to be complimented on their appearance, it may not be
as important to their self-esteem to be considered attractive. For instance, physical
appearance was the most important predictor of overall self-evaluation in female, but not
male, college and high school students (Jackson, Hodge, & Ingram, 1994). As Fallon
(1990) notes, the physical attractiveness of women is typically given much more explicit
consideration than the physical attractiveness of men by both women and men alike.

It is likely that many women compare themselves to others in order to evaluate
their own appearance. Festinger’s (1954) social comparison theory suggests that people
compare themselves to others when they are not certain about their opinions or qualities.
Thus, women may compare themselves to societal standards of beauty in order to assess
their attractiveness. Research has consistently shown that social comparison with highly

attractive others reduces self-esteem, which results in lower self-evaluation (Diener,

1984). Thornton and Moore (1993) illustrated these ideas with an experiment in which

men and women were exposed to attractive and unattractive same-sex persons. The
researchers found that self-ratings of attractiveness and social self-esteem were lower after
exposure to an attractive model, and self-ratings of attractiveness were enhanced after
exposure to an unattractive person. Similarly, another study found that college women
had indicated lower self-ratings of attractiveness after being exposed to pictures of other
attractive college women (Cash, Cash, & Butters, 1983). Thus, exposure to attractive
others may cause self-esteem to suffer, whereas exposure to rmattractive others may
increase self-esteem.

Upward social comparisons (e.g., to other people who could be considered more
attractive) often take place when evaluating oneself, especially in terms of attractiveness.
In American society, women frequently compare themselves and are compared to
idealized Caucasian standards of beauty (Rucker & Cash, 1992; Trepagnier, 1994) even
though some cross-cultural data suggests that there are universal standards of beauty in
which both non-White and White features are considered to be attractive (Langlois &
Roggrnan, 1990). A cultural transmission of the Caucasian standard of beauty to all
women, including Black and Asian women, is evident when one considers research
findings that show that Blacks, Chinese, and Hispanics rate Caucasian faces as being more
attractive than faces of their own ethnic group (Bernstein, Lin, & McClellan, 1982; Cross
& Cross, 1971; Langlois & Stephan, 1977; Martin, 1964). Similarly, Fujino (1993) found
that both Asian and White men and women rated Whites as being more physically

attractive than Asians. Taken together, these findings indicate that Caucasian standards of

 

beauty are pervasive in American society and form a basis against which many women,
including minorities, judge themselves.

Although previous studies have shown that upward social comparisons with an
idealized White standard reduces self-esteem, resulting in lower self-evaluations of
attractiveness (Diener, 1984; Grogan, William, & Connor, 1996; Thornton & Moore,
1993 ), other important and self-defining factors may affect the relationship between
perceptions of attractiveness and self-esteem Previous research has shown, for instance,
that women who identify with traditional feminine gender roles are more likely to care
about physical appearance than other less traditionally feminine women. Similarly, ethnic
identity may moderate the relationship between self-evaluations of attractiveness and self-
esteem. For example, women high in ethnic identity may be less inclined to evahrate
themselves based on White cultural standards of beauty, which may lead to less reduction
in self-esteem after being exposed to a White beauty standard relative to those who are
low in ethnic identity. Thus, two such factors that may influence the relationship between
self-perceptions of attractiveness and self-esteem are identification with traditional
feminine gender roles and ethnic identity.

Gender Roles

Gender schema theory suggests that traditional feminine gender-typed individuals
are more likely to conform to cultural beauty standards and are therefore more likely than
nontraditional gender-typed individuals to evaluate their physical appearance in terms of
cultural beauty standards (Bern, 1981a, 1981b). In other words, women who identify with

traditional feminine gender roles are more likely to evaluate themselves according to

cultural beauty norms than are women who identify with traditional masculine gender roles
or androgynous women who identify with both femininity and masculinity. This
identification with traditional femininity would lead one to believe strongly in culturally
accepted beauty ideals for the self; which may negatively impact self-esteem when one
feels discrepant from those ideals. For instance, Jackson, Sullivan, and Hymes (1985)
reported that women who identified with traditional femininity perceived themselves as
being less attractive than masculine or androgynous women and wanted to change their
physical appearance more than androgynous women. Likewise, another study found that
feminine women were less satisfied with their body characteristics and sexuality than were
masculine and androgynous women (Kimlicka, Cross, & Tamai, 1983). Thus, it seems
that identification with traditional femininity is related to negative body image and lower
body satisfaction ratings. Specifically, higher traditional femininity means less body
satisfaction because identification with traditional feminine characteristics may lead
women to show more adherence to diflicult-to-attain, culturally-prescribed beauty norms,
which may result in more discrepancies between one’s ideal and one’s actual self
Research on gender roles and body image has shown that women who express less
traditional feminine gender-typed beliefs are more satisfied with their bodies than women
who express more traditional feminine gender-typed beliefs. Conversely, women who
identify strongly with traditional feminine gender roles have more negative feelings about
their body image than do women who are less inclined to identify with traditional feminine

gender roles (Jackson et a1, 1985). This dissatisfaction may stem from women perceiving

large discrepancies between their actual and ideal bodies, which may lead to lower self-
evaluations of attractiveness and consequently, to lower self-esteem.

Previous research has established that gender role identification affects how
women perceive their bodies, and how this perception, in turn, can affect feelings about
the self (Jackson et al, 1985; Kimlicka et aL, 1983). In addition to identification with
traditional feminine gender roles, women’s self-esteem may be influenced by ethnic
identity as well. In Black and Asian women, ethnic identity may be an important element
in how women respond to mainstream cultural values that affect their self-perceptions of
attractiveness and ultimately, their self-esteem.

Ethnic Identification

Among Black women, those who are low in ethnic identity may have more
negative self-evahrations if they compare themselves to a White standard of beauty. Those
high in ethnic identity, on the other hand, may not view Caucasian standards as personally
ideal and hence, they would not compare themselves to them (Cracker & Major, 1989).

In one study, researchers identified ethnic identity as the main reason why Black
women were able to maintain high self-evahrations following exposure to an attractive
White model Makkar and Strube (1995) showed Black women who were either high or
low in racial identification photographs of attractive White women, photographs of
attractive Black women, or no photographs (control condition). The participants then
evaluated the models on the body esteem scale (BES; Franzoi & Shields, 1984), which

asked participants to rate targets’ facial and body characteristics in terms of attractiveness,

as well as on overall attractiveness. The participants were also asked to rate themselves
on the BES and their overall attractiveness.

Their results showed that when participants were exposed to White models, those
high in ethnic identity believed that they, themselves, were much more attractive than the
target compared to Black women who were low in ethnic identity. These results indicate
that Black women with high ethnic identity are less likely to evaluate themselves
negatively when exposed to a White standard of beauty than Black women with low ethnic
identity. Hence, high ethnic identity in Black women may buffer the effects of idealized
White standards of beauty on Black women’s self-perceptions. The study also formd that
those high (relative to low) in self-esteem were much more apt to believe themselves to be
more attractive than White models. However, the experimenters did not examine the
relationship between ethnic identity and self-esteem The experimenters may have found
that high ethnic identity and high self-esteem may be correlated. Taken together, these
results suggest that Black women who are low in ethnic identity or who are low in self-
esteem may make more self-comparisons to White standards of beauty, resulting in lower
self-evaluations if they feel discrepant from those standards. Conversely, Black women
who have high ethnic identity or high self-esteem may not allow cultural White ideals to
dictate their personal ideals, resulting in more favorable self-evaluations. It is possrble,
then, that high ethnic identity maintains positive self-esteem by allowing Black women to
disregard pervasive White cultural norms. Furthermore, high ethnic identity may foster
positive self-esteem in Black women because they can compare themselves to more

relevant Black cultural standards if they feel threatened by White standards of beauty.

Crocker and Major (1989), for instance, argued that stigmatized groups, such as
Black women, have several strategies for protecting their self-esteem when threatened.
First, stigmatized people may be able to attribute negative feedback to their group
membership. For example, a Black woman who does not meet White cultural standards of
beauty may not feel bad about herself because she may believe that there are different
standards of beauty for Black women. Second, stigmatized people compare themselves
mostly with ingroup members. Thus, Black women high in ethnic identity may be
especially likely to compare themselves to a Black standard of beauty rather than a White
standard of beauty. Lastly, stigmatized people value the attributes of their ingroup more
so than others do. Hence, Black women may view dark skin or larger bone structure as
being more attractive than non-Black women despite that these features run counter to
White cultural norms of beauty. These findings are consistent with previous research that
shows Black women have positive perceptions of themselves relative to White women.
For instance, Black women have heavier body ideals, which leads to less eating disorder
behaviors, less dietary restraint, and more body satisfaction than White women (Hsu,
1987; Rucker & Cash, 1992).

Ahhough many Black women have been able to maintain positive self-esteem in a
culture that stresses White beauty standards, other minority women may react to accepted
cultural beauty ideals differently. Asian women, for instance, may have a more dificult
time than Black women in maintaining positive self-perceptions when exposed to White
beauty standards because Asians may not be as likely as Blacks to separate feelings about

the individual self from their ethnic group self As shown by Crocker, Luhtanen, Blaine,

and Broadnax (1994), correlations between the personal self-esteem and the collective
self-esteem scale for Blacks were weak, but positive correlations between the two scales
were formd for Asians. These findings suggest that Blacks may be better able to separate
how they feel about their racial group fiom what others (e. g., members of other racial
groups) feel about their ingroup than Asians. On the other hand, it may be more
important for Asians that others think highly of their group and themselves because many
Asians believe in an interdependence between the self and the dominant culture (Markus &
Kitayama, 1991). Thus, how Asians perceive themselves might be correlated with how
the dominant culture perceives them more so than for Blacks (Cracker et al, 1994).
Relating these findings to perceptions of attractiveness, Black women may be less
concerned with White standards of beauty than Asian women because Black women tend
to evaluate themselves using a Black ingroup standard whereas, Asians may evaluate
themselves against the dominant culture’s standard (i e., White beauty ideals).

Past research on self-perceptions of attractiveness in Asians has supported the idea
that Asian women may compare themselves quite strongly to White beauty ideals.
Research by Arkofi‘ and Weaver (1966) formd that Japanese-American women were
significantly more dissatisfied with their bodies than Japanese-American males and
Caucasian women. Furthermore, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgery
and Reconstruction Surgeon’s 1993 report, Asians are more likely than any other ethnic
group to pursue cosmetic surgery (Chen, 1993 ). Although 80% of White patients want
liposuction, breast augmentation, or wrinkle removal, over 40% of Asian Americans ask

for eyelid surgery, and another 20% request nasal implants or nasal tip refinements (Kaw,

1993). As Kaw observes, the popular surgeries for Whites do not change their racial
makeup, whereas for Asian Americans, the surgery attempts to undo physical features
related to race to make Asians look more White. Likewise, new makeup products for
Asian women are directed at “fixing” their features to make them look more White. One
such product is called “nose shadow,” which is a brown cosmetic stick used to add
“shape” to the nose (Li, 1992).

Thus, ethnic identity may play a different role in how Black women view
themselves versus how Asian women view themselves. This may be related to the finding
that Blacks are more able to separate personal self-esteem from collective self-esteem than
Asians (Crocker et a1, 1994). Conversely, Asians may derive part of their personal self-
esteem fiom adherence to dominant cultural norms because Asian culture stresses
conformity and interdependence with others (Markus & Kitayama, 1991). It is possible
that need for conformity is an important moderator in how ethnic identity afi‘ects self-
esteern. Perhaps those who have a higher need for conforming to cultural norms may have
lower self-esteem than those who are less conforming. For instance, one with high ethnic
identity may still have lower self-esteem if they have a higher need for conformity to
dominant cultural norms than those with lower needs for conformity. Conversely, one
with low ethnic identity may have higher self-esteem if they have a lower need for
conformity to dominant cultural norms. Conformity as a moderator of the relationship
between ethnic identity and self-esteem seems particularly relevant for Asians because
their culture tends to stress conformity to the dominant culture (Markus & Kitayama,

1991). However, as research has shown, both Asian and Black women who attempt to

conform to White beauty ideals may suffer psychologically because they may never be able
to realize these ideals (Arkofi‘ & Weaver, 1966; Hall, 1995; Okazawa-Rey, Robinson, &
Ward, 1986; Trepagnier, 1994).

As discussed, traditional feminine gender role identification, ethnic identity, and
need for conformity may play roles in influencing self-perceptions of beauty on self-
esteem. These factors are seemingly able to influence self-esteem because they serve as
foundations on which individuals think about themselves and the standards to which self-
comparisons are made. Thus, to understand forces that influence self-esteem, one needs
to consider how people compare themselves to their idealized standards. The implications
of such comparisons have been explored by self-discrepancy theory (Higgins, 1987)
Self-Discrepancy Theog

Self-discrepancy theory suggests that people who believe that their actual self
(one’s self-concept) and their ideal self (one’s hopes, wishes, or aspirations for
themselves) are discrepant will be more likely to experience lower self-esteem, greater
dissatisfaction, and more depression relative to those who believe that their actual and
ideal selves are less discrepant (Higgins, 1987; Higgins, Klein, & Strauman, 1985).

Although previous work on gender role identification has shown that traditional
gender-typed women have lower satisfaction with their body image and lower self-esteem
(Jackson, 1992), it is possible that self-discrepancy mediates the relationship between
identification with traditional feminine gender roles and self-esteem. For instance, high
identification with traditional feminine gender roles should lead women to think about .

their ideal selves in terms of cultural standards of beauty. It is the degree of mismatch

10

between actual and ideal selves that impacts self-esteem If the actual and ideal selves
match, then self-esteem will be higher because there will be less discrepancy between what
one believes that they are and what one hopes to be. Conversely, sizable mismatches in
the actual and ideal selves will result in lower self-esteem Thus, self-discrepancy may
provide a mechanism through which gender role identification affects self—esteem The role
of self-discrepancy may also affect the relationship between ethnic identity and self-
esteem Ethnic identity may influence how Black and Asian women view themselves by
affecting their choice of ideal self. Ifone’s actual and ideal selves are highly discrepant,
then one will have lower self-esteem Therefore, both gender role identification and ethnic
identity influence beliefs about ideal standards of beauty which, in turn, can reduce self-
esteem if mismatches are salient to the individual.

Slime!!!

Past research on gender role identification and self-perceptions of attractiveness
has shown that women who are traditionally feminine are more likely to be dissatisfied
with their bodies, and more likely to evaluate themselves negatively than women who do
not show as much identification with traditional femininity (Jackson et a1, 1985).
Furthermore, research on ethnic identity has shown that Black women with low ethnic
identity are more likely to evaluate themselves negatively than Black women with high
ethnic identity when faced with a social comparison to a White standard of beauty
(Makkar & Strube, 1995). However, one might question whether gender role

identification and ethnic identity afl‘ect self-esteem directly, or if there is another more

11

complex psychological mechanism that may mediate the relationship that can be captured
via self-discrepancy theory.

Although past research on Black women has typically predicted that Black women
in general have positive self-perceptions of attractiveness relative to White women (Hsu,
1987), recent research has shown that Black women with high ethnic identity react to
White beauty standards differently than do Black women with low ethnic identity.
Specifically, Black women with high ethnic identity are less likely to let White beauty
ideals negatively affect their evaluations of themselves than Black women with low racial
identity (Makkar & Strube, 1995). Furthermore, it is proposed that ethnic identity may
not operate in the same way for Asian women as it does for Black women because Asian
culture stresses interdependence and conformity with the culture (Markus & Kitayama,
1991). Therefore, Black and Asian women may differ in their reactions to exposure to
White standards of beauty. Given the preceding literature, the current study will examine
the mediating role of self-discrepancy in terms of beauty on the relationship between
gender role identification and self-esteem in Black, Asian, and White women. The
influence of ethnic identity in shaping self-standards of beauty will be explored as well.
The primary hypotheses for this study are:

Hypothesis 1: Traditionally feminine women will be more likely to adopt White standards
of beauty for their ideal self than women who are not traditionally feminine. This should
result in lower self-esteem for traditionally feminine women who are exposed to cultural
standards of beauty because of greater self-discrepancies between their actual and ideal

selves.

12

Hypothesis 2: Ethnic identity will affect how women construct their ideal self. In Black
women, low ethnic identity will result in adopting a more culturally-defined ideal self,
which should lead to greater discrepancies between the actual and ideal self producing
lower self-esteem than in Black women who are high in ethnic identity. Asian women high
in ethnic identity should also have higher self-esteem relative to low ethnic identity Asian
women via less self-discrepancy. However, ethnic identity in Asian women should interact
with conformity arch that high ethnic identity Asian women with high levels of conformity
should adopt dominant, White cultural standards of beauty, leading to more self-
discrepancies between their actual and ideal selves, resulting in lower self-esteem. Asian
women low in ethnic identity should adopt a more culturally-defined ideal self and have
lower self-esteem relative to high ethnic identity Asian women via greater discrepancies
between their actual and ideal selves. This pattern should be especially strong for low
ethnic identity Asian women who also express a high need for conformity.

Because Blacks and Asians are two very different ethnic groups in terms of culture
and physical appearance, it is also hypothesized that there should be race differences in
how Blacks and Asians respond to White cultural standards of beauty. In general, Black
women should be less inclined to compare themselves to cultural standards of beauty
because they should not view White standards as personally relevant, and therefore, would
not compare themselves to such ideals (Crocker & Major, 1988). Asian women, however,
may be more likely than Blacks to compare themselves to cultural ideals because Asian
culture stresses conformity to the dominant culture (Markus & Kitayama, 1991).

Furthermore, Asians are closer to White ideals (e. g., lighter skin, straighter hair, etc.) than

13

Blacks, which may facilitate conformity to culturally-defined beauty standards in Asian
women to the extent that their responses to stimulus materials should be very similar to

responses by Whites.

METHOD

Partrgrpants

Participants were 62 Asian women, 62 Black women, and 68 White women
recruited fiom Michigan State University through introductory level psychology classes.
Of the sample, 8 Asians, 10 Blacks and 4 Whites were excluded from the analysis of the
data because they did not completely follow instructions. Most Asian and Black subjects
were recruited through campus ethnic clubs, such as Black Caucuses, Black sororities,
APASO (Asian/Pacific American Student Organization), and other Asian organizations
(Chinese Student Coalition, Korean Students Alliance, etc.) Asian-American women who
identified themselves as Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Filipino, Thai, Hmong, or
Cambodian were considered as Asian participants for this study.

Cultural Standards ofmuy Stimuli

Full body, color pictures of attractive White female models (taken from Victoria’s
Secret catalogues) were shown to participants to provide exposure to mainstream
standards of beauty. The pictures were pilot-tested by introductory White female
psychology students to ensure that all models were considered to be reliably physically
attractive. White students were used to pilot test the pictures because this study

attempted to assess how dominant White cultural norms afi‘ect self-esteem in women. The

14

 

pictures were used in two ways. First, the pictures served as an upward comparison point
to which participants compared themselves directly. Second, the pictures were used to
initiate thinking about the self and how attractive the participants considered themselves to
be.
Measures

Gender Identg' . The Bem (1974) Sex Role Inventory (B SR1) (see Appendix A)
was used to assess the degree of participants’ identification with traditional gender roles.
Scores were derived fiom participants rating themselves on a total of 60 personality traits:
20 feminine traits, 20 masculine traits, and 20 neutral traits (e.g., affectionate, aggressive,
and fiiendly, respectively) on a scale ranging from 1 (never or almost never true of me) to
7 (always or almost always true of me). Higher scores on femininity traits indicated
stronger identification with traditional feminine gender roles (alpha=.7 6). Higher scores
on masculinity traits indicated stronger identification with traditional masculine gender
roles (alpha=. 83).

Ethnic Identity' . The Racial Identity Attitude Scale (RIAS-B; Parham & Helms,
1981) (see Appendix B) was administered to both Black and Asian students to assess their
ethnic identification. Ahhough this 30-item scale was originally designed to measure racial
identity in Blacks, the scale was adapted for Asians by changing all “Black” words to
“Asian” words (i.e., “Being Asian just feels natural to me,” as opposed to, “Being Black
just feels natural to me”). In addition, a 50-item White Racial Identity Attitude Scale
(WRIAS; Helms, 1991) (see Appendix C) was given to White participants in order to

assess how White racial identity afi‘ects members of the dominant group. Participants were

15

asked to respond on a 5-point scale ranging fiom 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly
agree) on the RIAS-B or the WRIAS.

The RIAS-B conceptualizes racial identity as a stage process. For this study, the
two most extreme endpoints in ethnic identity pertinent to this study were preencounter, in
which one has a strong commitment to White culture and a weak commitment to one’s
ethnic culture (low-ethnic identity), and immersion, in which one has a strong commitment
to one’s ethnic culture and a weak commitment to White culture (high-ethnic identity).
Questions that measured the preencounter stage included, “I believe that White people
look and express themselves better than Blacks/Asians” and “I believe that White people
are intellectually superior to Blacks/Asians” (alpha=.58 for Blacks, alpha=.6l for Asians).
Questions that measured the immersion stage included, “I believe that the world should be
interpreted from a Black/Asian perspective” and “I believe that everything Black/Asian is
good, and consequently, I limit myself to Black/Asian activities” (alpha=.57 for Blacks,
alpha=.7l for Asians).

Similar to the RIAS-B, the WRIAS conceptualizes White identity in terms of
stages. The two most extreme endpoints that are pertinent to this study were contact, in
which the individual approaches the world in a “color-blind manner” (low-ethnic identity),
and reintegration, in which the individual idealizes everything that is White and denigrates
everything that is thought to be non-White (high-ethnic identity). Questions that
measured the contact stage included, “I hardly think about what race I am” and “I wish I
had a fiiend that is a member of a minority group” (alpha=.67). Questions that measured

the reintegration stage included, “I get angry when I think about how Whites have been

16

treated by minority groups” and “There is nothing I want to learn from minorities”
(alpha=.75).

Collective Self-Esteem. The collective self-esteem scale (Luhtanen & Crocker,
1992) (see Appendix D) was given to all participants to assess the degree to which their
self-esteem may be derived from racial group membership. The 16-item scale has four
subscales in which only the subscale of identity applies to the current study. The construct
of “identity” assesses the importance of group membership to one’s self-concept.
Questions that measured this construct included, “The social groups I belong to are an
important reflection of who I am” and “In general, belonging to social groups is an
important part of my self-image” (alpha=.84). Collective self-esteem items were measured
on a 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree) scale with some questions being reversed
scored Higher scores indicated that more of an individual’s self-esteem is derived fiom
racial group membership.

Body Attractiveness. The body esteem scale (BES; Franzoi & Shield, 1984) (see
Appendix E) using the female dimension of sexual attractiveness and weight concern was
administered to participants in order for them to actively reflect on the attractiveness of
the photographed models, as well as on their own level of attractiveness. The participants
were asked to rate the stimulus photographs and themselves using the BES. In addition,
the BES served as a manipulation check to ensure that the models presented as stimuli
were considered to be attractive by participants.

Participants rated body parts on a scale ranging fiom l (have strong negative

feelings) to 5 (have strong positive feelings). Questions measured individuals’ feelings

l7

about facial features (e. g., how one feels about one’s nose, lips, ears, etc.) and about
weight concerns regarding body proportions (e. g., how one feels about one’s thighs,
buttocks, hips, etc. ). There were 18 questions that assessed the BES (alpha=.89).

Overall Attractiveness The BES only asked for ratings of composite facial and
body parts and did not assess overall attractiveness. Thus, an additional question was
asked to obtain an overall attractiveness score. Participants were asked to rate the
attractiveness of the models and their own level of attractiveness on a scale ranging from 1
(very unattractive) to 9 (very attractive).

W__h‘o would you wgnt to be? Following the same logic of Clark and Clark’s
(1940) ethnic doll study in which a majority of Black children chose White dolls as
“playmates” over Black dolls, photographs of attractive Asian, Black, and White women
(pre—tested for attractiveness by White females) taken fiom high school yearbooks and
college yearbooks were shown to participants. Participants stated how much they wanted
to look like each woman in the photographs on a scale ranging fi'om 1 (not at all) to 7
(very much) (see Appendix F).

M] vers_u_sldeafl Self A modified version of the Selves Questionnaire (Higgins
et al., 1985) was administered to participants to evahrate how much their actual physical
self and ideal physical self matched in terms of self-perceptions of beauty and
attractiveness (e. g., “I want to be short and I am short” or “I want to be tall but I am
short”).

Participants listed 10 physical characteristics that they believed they possessed and

the importance of having those physical characteristics on a scale ranging fiom 1 (very

18

unimportant) to 7 (very important). Following the actual selves questionnaires,
participants were asked to list up to 10 physical characteristics that they wished they

. ideally possessed and to rate the importance of possessing those ideal physical traits again
on a scale ranging fiom 1 (very unimportant) to 7 (very important). Participants were
then asked to return to their ideal list and rate themselves on how close they were to
reaching their ideal selfon a scale ranging fiom 1 (very close to being ideal) to 7 (not
close at all to being ideal) (see Appendix G).

Scores from the ideal inrportance scale were multiplied with scores fiom the “how
close are you to being ideal” scale and the mean of these products were computed as the
measure for discrepancy between ideal and actual self, or mismatches. Higher scores on
mismatches indicated larger discrepancies on important physical traits. It is likely that
participants with highly mismatched selves on physical characteristics that are very
important to them should be less happy with their appearance than those with highly
matched selves on important characteristics.

Need for Um'_qr_ren_es_s. The need for uniqueness scale (Snyder & Fromkin, 1977)
(see Appendix H) was used to measure participants’ desires to set themselves apart from
other people and social norms. The scale was designed to measure positive strivings in
people for difl‘erentness relative to other people. Specifically, this scale was used to assess
the extent to which participants, especially Asians (Hypothesis 2), conformed to norms
(i e., cultural standards of beauty).

The need for uniqueness scale is a 32-item questionnaire and includes items such as

“I always try to follow the rules” and “I like wearing a uniform because it makes me proud

19

to be a member of the organization it represents” (alpha=.81). Conformity was measured
by asking participants to rate themselves on a scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 6 .
(strongly agree) with some items being reversed scored. Higher scores indicated more
desire to be conforming relative to other people.

Self-Esteem Self-esteem was measured using Rosenberg’s (1965) self-esteem
scale (see Appendix I). This scale has been previously shown to have good test-retest
reliability (_r=.85 over a two-week period), and correlates highly with other measures of
self-esteem (Robinson & Shaver, 1973 ). This measure of self-esteem was used because it
is a global measure of self-worth and can show how negative self-perceptions of
attractiveness may impact overall self-esteem.

The Rosenberg (1965) self-esteem scale is a 10-item questionnaire and includes
items such as “I feel that I have a number of good qualities” and “I wish I could have more
respect for myself” (alpha=.85). Self-esteem was measured by splitting the scale into
halves, such that participants rated themselves on a scale ranging from 1 (strongly
disagree) to 5 (strongly agree) on the first 5 questions before exposure to experimental
stimulus, and then rated themselves on the last 5 questions after exposure to experimental
materials. The difi‘erence between self-esteem at time 2 (after exposure to stimulus
materials) and self-esteem at time 1 (before exposure to stimulus materials) of the
Rosenberg self-esteem scale was then computed to create a change of esteem measure.
Higher scores on the change of esteem measure indicated greater self-esteem after
exposure to a cultural standard of beauty than before exposure to the cultural standard.

Procedure

20

This experiment was a one-way, between-subjects factorial design with 3 levels of
race (Asian, Black, and White participants).

Participants were greeted by a White female experimenter of modest physical
attractiveness. Participants were told that the experiment was about understanding self-
concept formation across a wide variety of people, and that they would be asked to
complete several questionnaires on factors that may contribute to self-concept formation.

Afier participants signed the consent form, they were asked to complete five
questions of the Rosenberg (1965) self-esteem scale to measure participants’ self-esteem
prior to exposure to the pictures of the attractive models. Participants then completed the
BSRI to assess their degree of traditional femininity. Following the BSRI, Asian, Black
and White participants completed their respective ethnic identity scales, RIAS for Asians
and Blacks (Parham & Helms, 1981) and (W)RIAS for Whites (Helms, 1991). All ethnic
identity scales were known as the “Social Attitudes Scale” to participants. Next,
participants completed the collective self-esteem scale (Luhtanen & Crocker, 1992) to
measure self-esteem derived fiom racial membership.

At this point, participants were told that because the experiment on self-concept
formation required the participants to complete many questionnaires, they were to take a
little “break” before completing additional questionnaires. It was during this “break” that
participants were exposed to the photographs of the attractive models. This was done so
that the participants would not know that the previous questionnaires (e. g., the BSRI,
RIAS, etc.) were related to the questions on attractiveness. Furthermore, although

participants were told that they were taking a break, they were also told to take the task

21

seriously because it was part of another study about attractiveness for which researchers
were collecting data. All participants then viewed three photographs of attractive White
models. Three photographs were shown to participants to ensure the likelihood that
participants believed one of the models to be very attractive in order to promote upward
self-comparisons. Participants were then asked to identify which of the three models was
most attractive to them, and to rate that model on the BES (Franzoi & Shields, 1984).
Viewing the models was to prompt participants to think about beauty and attractiveness,
and to induce upward social comparisons to the attractive models. Afterwards,
participants rated the model on overall attractiveness as well Next, participants rated
themselves on the BES and rated themselves on overall attractiveness.

Participants also viewed pictures of attractive Asian, Black and White women
taken from high school and college yearbooks and rated the women in terms of who they
would most want to look like. In the last part of the “break” (i e., the attractiveness
portion of the study), participants completed a modified version of the selves
questionnaire (Higgins et a1, 1985), which assessed their beliefs about their actual and
ideal selves with respect to their physical characteristics. Participants also indicated how
important their actual and ideal physical characteristics were to them and estimated how
close they were to attaining their ideal physical traits.

Participants then completed the need for uniqueness scale (Snyder & Fromkin,
1977) to measure their degree of conformity. Finally, all participants filled out the

remaining five questions from the Rosenberg self-esteem scale in order to assess changes

22

in self-esteem following exposure to the attractive White models. Lastly, participants

were thanked and debriefed at the end of the experiment.

RESULTS
Descriptive analyses were performed on all variables (means and standard
deviations for the primary variables are summarized in Table l). Zero-order correlations
were then conducted between all variable pairings for all participants (see Table 2), for
Asian participants only (see Table 3), for Black participants only (see Table 4), and for
White participants only (see Table 5). Although all results will be discussed, let us first
turn our attention to the primary hypotheses.

Wag
The first hypothesis was that women who identified with traditional femrn' m' rty’

would be more likely than women who did not identify with traditional femininity to reveal

lower self-esteem following exposure to the photographs of the models. This hypothesis
was not supported. As shown in Table 2, femininity did not correlate with change in self-

esteem. Moreover, femininity was not correlated with mismatches between actual and

ideal selves, suggesting that traditional femininity was not a factor in change of self-esteem

after exposure to cultural standards of beauty in this study.

The second hypothesis proposed that ethnic identity would influence women’s
cultural standards of beauty and their ideal self, thus affecting their sense of self-worth
following exposure to the models. Specifically, it was hypothesized that for Black

women, low ethnic identity (high preencounter scores) would lead to more mismatches

23

I I

I!
It

between their actual and ideal selves, resulting in lower self-esteem after viewing the
models than for Black women who have higher ethnic identity (high immersion scores).
Moreover, it was hypothesized that Asian women with high ethnic identity would have
fewer mismatches between their actual and ideal selves, resulting in higher self-esteem
However, ethnic identity should interact with conformity such that Asian women with high
ethnic identity and a high need for conformity would have more mismatches between their
actual and ideal selves, resulting in lower self-esteem than for Asian women with high
ethnic identity and a low need for conformity. Similarly, Asian women with low ethnic
identity would have lower self-esteem resulting from more mismatches between their
actual and ideal selves.

The results of this hypothesis were only weakly supported. As Table 4 shows,
neither preencounter nor immersion in Black women significantly correlated with change
in self-esteem nor with mismatches. For Asian women, however, Table 3 reveals that low
ethnic identity (preencounter) significantly correlated with change in self-esteem, such that
those who identified more with mainstream standards were more likely to show a
reduction in self-esteem afier being exposed to cultural standards of beauty. Neither
preencormter nor immersion correlated with need for conformity. Moreover, after first
entering preencounter, immersion, and conformity separately into the regression equation,
the subsequent interactions between ethnic identity and need for conformity were not
significant, 5:434, ;(52)-—.27, n_S (preencormter), and B=.51, ;(52)=.33, n_s (immersion).

This suggests that need for conformity did not interact with ethnic identity to decrease

24

participants’ self-esteem after exposure to a cultural standard of beauty for neither high
ethnic-identified nor low ethnic-identified Asian women.

In addition to ethnic identity in Blacks and Asians, White ethnic identity was
assessed as well. As shown in Table 5, neither low-ethnic identity (contact) nor high-
ethnic identity (reintegration) correlated with change in self-esteem. Furthermore, the
component of “identity” in the collective self-esteem scale was also measured as a method
to assess whether racial membership may affect one’s change in self-esteem after exposure
to models for all subjects. As shown in Tables 3, 4, and 5, collective self-esteem did not
significantly correlate with change in self-esteem. Thus, the degree to which one’s racial
membership influences one’s self-concept did not affect change in self-esteem alter
exposure to a cultural standard of beauty. In essence, neither ethnic identity nor collective
self-esteem was related to how Black or White women felt about themselves afier viewing
pictures of a cultural standard of beauty. Low ethnic identity in Asian women however,
was related to more negative change in self-esteem after viewing White standards of
beauty.

Additional Analyses Assessing the Mediational Role of Mimtches

Although our original hypothesis was that mismatches would mediate the
relationship between traditional feminine gender role identification and change in self-
esteem, and ethnic identity and change in self-esteem, mediational analyses could not be
conducted because all necessary zero-order correlations (as outlined for a mediational
analysis by Judd and Kenney, 1981) were not significant. However, as shown in Table 2,

there were significant correlations among all participants between the variables of

25

 

conformity (predictor variable) and the self BES (criterion variable), indicating that
women who had a higher need to conform to cultural norms were more critical of their
physical appearance; between conformity and mismatches (mediator variable), revealing
that as women were more conforming to cultural norms, they also experienced greater
mismatches between their actual and ideal selves; and between mismatches and the self
BES, indicating that women who had greater discrepancies between their actual and ideal
selves were more likely to rate themselves negatively on the BES. These results indicate
that mismatches may mediate how conformity pressure results in more negative ratings of
one’s physical attractiveness (as measured by the self BES).

A hierarchical regression analysis was conducted to test mediation in which the
initial inclusion of the mediational variable, mismatches, in predicting self BES should
weaken the relation between conformity and selfBES (entered as a second step in the
regression equation). As shown in Table 6, mediation was not found. That is, conformity
did not add a significant amormt of unique variance to the regression equation after
entering mismatches as an initial step in the regression equation. These results suggest
that conformity to cultural norms and mismatches between women’s actual and ideal
selves independently affect how they feel about their physical appearance.

Mal Differences ad Its E_fl‘ects on Self-Esteem

Mixed-design analyses of variance (AN OVA) were conducted on self-esteem
before and after exposure to cultural standards of beauty, and on yearbook photographs to
assess racial differences between Asians, Blacks, and Whites. Furthermore, one-way

ANOVAs were conducted in order to assess racial differences between Asians, Blacks,

26

 

and Whites with respect to how the three groups differed in conformity to cultural norms,
actual and ideal self mismatches, and how they viewed the attractive models and
themselves. Specifically, it was hypothesized that Blacks should be less inclined to adopt
culturally-defined standards for their ideal selfbecause they would not view White
standards as personally relevant. Asians, however, would compare themselves to
culturally-defined standards for their ideal self for two reasons. First, Asian culture
stresses conformity to the dominant culture. Second, Asians are closer to White physical
ideals than Blacks (e.g., lighter skin, straighter hair, etc. ), which may increase the
likelihood that Asians would conform to culturally-defined beauty standards.

A mixed-design AN OVA was conducted to assess whether there were racial
differences (between-subjects variable) in initial and final self-esteem treated as a repeated
measure. As Table 7 shows, a significant main effect of race was found indicating that
Asians’ and Whites’ self-esteem were significantly lower than Blacks’ self-esteem, E(2,
l67)=10.93, p<.001. There was no interaction between change in self-esteem and race,
E(2, l67)=.52, n_s, indicating that exposure to models did not affect participants’ change in
self-esteem as a firnction of race.

Because conformity to cultural norms may dictate whether one experiences
negative self-esteem, one-way AN OVA was conducted to see if there were race
difl’erences in need for conformity. Indeed, there was a main effect of race, _F_(2,
l67)=10.13, p<.001. As Table 7 reveals, Asians and Whites reported greater need for

conformity than Blacks.

27

Given the hypothesized role of discrepancies between actual and ideal selves, a
one-way AN OVA was conducted to see if there were race differences in mismatches.
Indeed, there was a main efiect of race, _F_(2, l67)=3.90, p<.05. As Table 7 reports, all
three groups difl‘ered from each other in terms of mismatches generated, with Asians
generating the most mismatches between their ideal and actual selves and Blacks
generating the least amount.

Following from the findings that Blacks have higher overall self-esteem, less
conformity to cultural norms, and report fewer mismatches than Asians and Whites, it was
not unexpected that Blacks rated their body esteem (BES) more positively than Asians or
Whites, E(2,167)=10.42, p<.001 (see Table 7 for means). Moreover, an interaction
regression analysis regressing self-BES, race (a contrast coded vector comparing Whites
and Asians to Blacks), and their interactions were regressed on change in esteem scores.
Results suggested an interaction between self-BES and the race vector contrasting Whites
and Asians to Blacks, showing that Whites and Asians who were more critical of their
physical appearance experienced a greater drop in self-esteem after exposure to the
attractive models, B=.86, t( l68)=2.08, p<.05. However, follow-up analysis indicate that
the regression slope for self BES in predicting change in self-esteem is marginal for
Asians, _E(l, 164)=3.08, p=.08, and non-significant for Blacks, E(1, 164)=2.65, n_s, and
Whites, E(l, l64)=.02, n_s (see Figure 1). These regression slopes show that Asians who
rate themselves lower on self BES tend to experience more of a drop of self-esteem after

exposure to the models. Interestingly, Blacks who report lower selfBES tend to

28

experience more positive change of self-esteem after viewing the models, and Whites
appear to have no change of self-esteem regardless of their ratings on the selfBES.
Additional analyses were conducted to assess the person that participants would
most want to look like (a White, Asian, or Black woman, treated as a repeated measure)
by employing a mixed-design AN OVA Results yielded a main effect of race, _F(2,
167 )=7.90, p<.001 (see Table 7 for mean ratings of the photographs). Furthermore, there
was an interaction between subject race and race of yearbook photograph, E(2,
167)=28.39, p<.001, suggesting that ratings of the photographs were influenced by the
participants’ race. Simple efl‘ects tests revealed that Asian, Black, and White participants
rated the attractiveness of the photographs differently depending on the race of the woman
in the photograph, E(2,106)=7.56, p_<.001, E(2, 102)=32.59, p<.001, and £(2, 126)=3.02,
p<.001, respectively (see Table 8 for t-tests comparing the photographs). Lastly, analyses
of simple interactions between race of participants by race of photographs showed that
race differences existed in perceived attractiveness of the photographs by all comparison
groups, E(1, 104)=21.85, p<.001 (between Asian and Black participants), F(l, 116)=4.83,
p<.05 (between Asian and White participants), and E(l, 114F53.76, p<.001 (between

Black and White participants).

29

_F- “5

DISCUSSION

The major purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between
traditional feminine gender role identification and ethnic identity on self-esteem in Asian,
Black, and White women, and to discern how mismatches between one’s actual and ideal
selves afl‘ects these relationships.

Although past research has found that women who identify with traditional
feminine gender roles are more likely to feel bad about their physical appearance than
women who do not identify with traditional gender roles (Jackson et al, 1985), traditional
feminine gender role identification in this study did not lead to a greater reduction in self-
esteem after exposure to cultural standards of beauty. It is possible that traditional
femininity did not affect change of self-esteem for several reasons. First, perhaps
comparing oneself to a very high standard of beauty (i. e., Victoria’s Secret models) is such
an extreme upward social comparison that participants may have felt that it was unrealistic
to compare themselves to such extreme ideals. As such, being exposed to beautiful
models would not lead to lower self-esteem even if an individual identified with traditional
femininity because they could convince themselves that such standards are beyond their
reach. Indeed, Festinger’s (1954) original conception of social comparison proposed that
people would compare themselves with similar others. Perhaps women who identified
with traditional feminine gender roles would have had more negative self-esteem if they
had compared themselves to other attractive college women rather than models. A second
explanation why traditional femininity may not have reduced self-esteem after exposure to

the models is because the participants may have already been very familiar with the

30

Victoria Secret’s models prior to participating in this experiment, and hence, may have
previously had the chance to buffer against the threat of an upward comparison by finding
flaws in the models’ appearances. If the participants were already familiar with the models
and had already bufl‘ered their self-esteem against the threat of viewing the models, then
the impact of comparing themselves to such an upward comparison of beauty would have
been diminished. Additionally, traditional feminine gender role identification may not have
lead to lower self-esteem because women may have depended on other, stronger aspects
of their identity (e. g., academics, family life, musical talents, etc.) to buffer against the
negative efl‘ects of comparing oneself to an upward social comparison of beauty. Much
like Crocker and Major’s (1989) research on defense strategies in order to protect one’s
self-esteem, perhaps traditional feminine women safeguard their self-esteem in the
presence of an upward comparison to a beautifirl model by focusing on their other positive
qualities.

Predictions that ethnic identity would affect changes in self-esteem after exposure
to cultural standards of beauty were partially supported for Asians, but not for Blacks.
Asians who were low in ethnic identity experienced greater self-esteem drops after
comparing to attractive others than did Asians who were higher in ethnic identity.

As discussed earlier, ethnic identity may have different implications for Blacks and
Asians. Specifically, Blacks may employ defense strategies in the face of threat in order to
protect their self-esteem (Crocker & Major, 1989) such as avoiding comparisons to White
standards of beauty and valuing attributes of their ingroup (e.g., larger bones, darker skin).

This is consistent with research that have shown that Black women with high ethnic

31

identity are more likely to compare themselves to a Black standard of beauty rather than
to a White standard of beauty (e. g., Makkar & Strube, 1995).

The results of this study suggest that Asians with high ethnic identity did have a
drop in self-esteem afier exposure to culturally-defined ideals, although the trend was not
significant at conventional levels. Thus, cultural ideals of beauty appear to be salient to
Asians with high ethnic identity and may still be capable of making them feel bad about
themselves. Asian women with low ethnic identity, however, are significantly afl‘ected by
exposure to culturally-defined ideals such that they have stronger drops in self-esteem
afier viewing pictures of models. This suggests that Asians with low ethnic identity were
more likely to compare themselves to dominant, White cultural standards of beauty. To
the extent that Asians are somewhat closer in appearance to White standards than Blacks
(i e., fair skinned, straight-hair), Asians with low ethnic identity may experience fi'ustration
in striving towards White standards only to have their goals remain just out of reach.
Hence, Asian women may be more likely to adhere to White standards than Black women
and feel bad about themselves as a result.

In Asians, it was further predicted that ethnic identity would interact with need for
conformity to afi‘ect change in self-esteem These predictions were not supported. It is
possible that ethnic identity did not interact with conformity because our sample of Asian
students may have adapted the more individualistic tendencies of American culture, and
were less likely to display a strong collectivist orientation.

Although need for conformity did not interact with ethnic identity in Asians to

affect change in self-esteem, need for conformity was still an important variable in

32

understanding how exposure to cultural standards of beauty may affect one’s self-esteem
In fact, the results of this study indicated that as participants expressed more need for
conformity, they were less likely to report themselves as physically attractive. Moreover,
this relationship was not mediated by mismatches between one’s actual and ideal selves, in
which women with greater discrepancies between their actual and ideal selves were more
likely to perceive themselves as being less physically attractive. These results indicate that
need for conformity and mismatches both seem to independently exert a significant
influence on how participants perceived their physical attractiveness.

White ethnic identity also did not affect change in self-esteem following exposure
to the models. These results are not too surprising given that White ethnic identity, as
conceptualized by Hehns (1991), was more a measure to assess whether Whites were
cognizant of racial and cultural issues (low ethnic identity), or held prejudices against
minority groups (high ethnic identity). Thus, the scale was not designed to measure
whether Whites identified with their culture, per se, but how they viewed minority groups.
In this study then, racial identity would not affect changes in self-esteem for Whites after
seeing a cultural standard of beauty because racial identity should be irrelevant.

The last measure of whether racial group membership afl’ected change in self-
esteem, the collective-esteem scale, also did not reveal difl‘erences. These results are a bit
puzzling as one would expect that a strong identification with one’s racial group would
lead Asians and Blacks to less desire to adhere to beauty standards and thus result in

positive self-esteem It seems, however, that other factors (such as salient mismatches)

33

played a stronger role in influencing whether an individual experienced a change in self-
esteem after being exposed to culturally-defined ideals of beauty.

The common pattern found in this study was that Blacks difl‘ered from Asians and
Whites on many measures (including initial and final self-esteem, need for conformity,
mismatches between actual and ideal selves, perceptions of self physical-attractiveness,
and ratings of yearbook photographs), whereas Asians and Whites rarely difiered from
each other. For instance, Blacks’ initial and final self-esteem scores were higher than
Asians’ and Whites’ scores. Furthermore, Blacks reported higher overall selfbody-
esteem, less mismatches between actual and ideal selves, and less conformity than did
Asians or Whites. Taken together, these results indicate that Black women view
themselves in a more positive light than do Asian and White women, potentially because
Blacks may be comparing themselves to more personally relevant standards, and have less
need to conform to dominant, cultural beauty standards. These results are consistent with
past research that has shown that Black women have more body satisfaction (Rucker &
Cash, 1992), and that their body satisfaction is less dependent on social feedback and
comparison (Henriques, Calhoun, & Cann, 1996) than it is for White women. Conversely,
Asian women seem to be responding to self-perceptions of attractiveness in a similar
manner to Whites, and may hold personal ideals that conform to White standards of
beauty, as indicated by the finding that Asians and Whites are more likely to find Asian
and White women attractive than are Blacks. These White standards of beauty may exert

a deleterious effect on Asians’ psychological health, especially in cases where Asian

34

women may not feel beautiful without the help of cosmetic surgery to anglicize their facial
features (Mok, 1998).

There are several implications of these findings. First, the results strongly indicate
that Asians and Whites respond similarly to judgments regarding physical attractiveness,
but that both groups respond differently than Blacks. These findings may help in
understanding why Asians seem to have less difficulty assimilating into the dominant
culture than do Blacks. For instance, Asians are more positively stereotyped than are
Blacks (Jackson, Hodge, Gerard, Ingram, Ervin, & Sheppard, 1996), and Whites perceive
interracial White-Asian couples as consistently more positive, and less deviant than White-
Black couples (Lewandowski & Jackson, 1997). Therefore, it is possible that attitudinal
similarity between Asians and Whites creates more mainstream cultural acceptance of
Asians than Blacks.

Another implication of these findings is that Asians are more likely than Blacks to
strive toward cultural standards, and may be more adversely affected if these standards are
not attained (Mok, 1998; White & Chan, 1983). Thus, Asian women who have strong
desires to conform to culturally prescribed beauty ideals (e. g., blue eyes, blond hair) may
be at risk for depression if they realize that these ideals cannot be realistically met.

Although the findings fiom this study showed interesting race difl‘erences among
Asian, Black, and White women, this study was not successfirl in finding significant drops
in self-esteem afier exposure to culturally-defined ideals of beauty. It is possible that there
were no significant drops in self-esteem because the self-esteem instrument, Rosenberg’s

(1965) self-esteem scale, was too global and was not able to capture decreases in self-

35

esteem that specifically pertained to self-perceptions of attractiveness. Therein lies the
first limitation of this study. Future studies in this area should use a more sensitive
measure of self-esteem change that capture esteem derived from physical attractiveness.

A second limitation of this study was that there was no direct measurement of self-
perceptions of physical attractiveness (as measured by the Self BES) before exposure to
the models. It is possible that prior to seeing the models, participants may have believed
themselves to be more attractive than after seeing the models. Therefore, a before and
after exposure to models measurement of self-perceptions of attractiveness may have
indicated that women’s perceptions of themselves were negatively affected by viewing
photographs of cultural standards of beauty.

A third limitation of this study was the sample of participants. Namely, most of
the Asian and Black participants belonged to some sort of Asian or Black club or sorority.
Thus, the sample was not completely random, and may have been biased towards
participants with a greater developed sense of ethnic identity.

Additional research in this area may also want to study Asian and Black men’s self-
perceptions of attractiveness, and how dominant cultural standards of beauty affect them
as well. This may be especially important for Asian men who are typically very different
from American standards of beauty for men (e.g., shorter, thinner, etc. ), but may have a
desire to conform to cultural standards (Arkofl‘ & Weaver, 1966). Black men, however,
may have more positive self-perceptions of attractiveness because they seem to embody
positively esteemed male characteristics (e.g., muscular) and have greater mainstream

cultural acceptance. For instance, Black entertainers such as Denzel Washington and

36

Usher are lmown for their physical beauty. Although physical attractiveness may not be as
important for men as it is for women, Asian men who strongly wish to conform to cultural
ideals may express even higher levels of dissatisfaction with their appearance than Asian
women and experience psychological distress as a result. Future studies on Asian mental

health may want to explore this arena of research.

CONCLUSION

Although it would be reasonable to believe that Asians and Blacks may respond
similarly to cultural standards of beauty because they both have their respective, more
relevant ethnic standards to which they can compare themselves, this was not found to be
the case. In essence, Asians responded in a rmrch more similar manner to Whites, and
both Asians and Whites responded difi’erently fiom Blacks. These results suggest that
research indicating that minority groups employ defense strategies in the face of threat to
protect their self-esteem (Crocker & Major, 1989) may not be true for all minority groups.
Hence, while Blacks may be able to safeguard their self-esteem from threat, such as an
upward social comparison with a culturally-defined ideal, Asian women may not be able to
employ such safeguards, and in fact, may have beliefs (e.g., need for conformity) that
would lead them to firrther internalize cultural standards of beauty. In summary, minority
groups may not respond to cultural norms in a similar manner, and may actually exhibit
very different psychological reactions from each other. As such, we should continue to

appreciate the differences among minority groups, and value their distinctiveness.

37

APPENDICES

APPENDIX A

Bem’s Sex Role Inventory (B SR1)

Using the provided scale, indicate how ofien the following traits are true of you. There
are no right or wrong answers; we are only interested in your honest beliefs about
yourself Please answer all questions.

 

 

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7
never true Uncertain almost always
of me true of me
1) Self-reliant 33) Sincere
2) Yielding 34) Self- sufficient
3) Helpfirl 35) Eager to soothe hurt feelings
4) Defends own beliefs 36) Conceited
5) Cheerful 37) Dominant
6) Moody 38) Soft-spoken
7) Independent 39) Likable
8) Shy 40) Masculine
9) Conscientious 41) Warm
10) Athletic 42) Solemn
ll) Afl’ectionate 43) Willing to take a stand
12) Theatrical 44) Tender
13) Assertive 45) Friendly
14) Flatterable 46) Aggressive
15) Happy 47) Gullible
16) Strong personality 49) Acts as a leader
l8) Unpredictable 50) Childlike
19) Forceful 5 1) Adaptable
20) Feminine 52) Individualistic
21) Reliable 53) Does not use harsh language
22) Analytical 54) Unsystematic
23) Sympathetic 55) Competitive
24) Jealous 57) Tactful
26) Sensitive to the needs 58) Ambitious
of others 59) Gentle
27) Truthfirl 60) Conventional
28) Willing to take risks
29) Understanding
30) Secretive
31) Makes decisions easily
32) Compassionate

38

APPENDIX B

Racial Identity Attitudes Scale (RIAS-B)

This questionnaire is designed to measure people’s social and political attitudes. There are
no right or wrong answers. We are only interested in your honest opinions. Use the scale
below to describe how you feel about each statement. Please answer all questions.

 

l 2 3 4 5
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Uncertain Agree Agree

 

p—a

I believe that being Asian/Black is a positive experience.

I know through experience what being Asian/Black in America means.

I feel unable to involve myselfin White experiences, and am increasing my

involvement in Asian/Black experiences.

I believe that large numbers of Asians/Blacks are untrustworthy.

I feel an overwhelming attachment to Asian/Black people.

I involve myselfin causes that will help all oppressed people.

I feel comfortable wherever I am

I believe that White people look and express themselves better than Asians/Blacks.

I feel very uncomfortable around Asian/Black people.

0. I feel good about being Asian/Black, but do not limit myself to Asian/Black

activities.

11. I often find myself referring to White people in derogatory ways (such as calling
them honkies, trash, devils, pigs, etc.)

12. I believe that to be Asian/Black is not necessarily good.

13. ' I believe that certain aspects of the Asian/Black experience apply to me, and others
do not.

14. I frequently confront the system and/or the man.

15. I constantly involve myself in Asian/Black political and social activities (art shows,
political meetings, social gatherings, etc.)

16. I involve myselfin social action and political groups even if there are no other
Asians/Blacks involved.

17. I believe that Asian/Black people should learn to think and experience life in ways
which are similar to White people.

18. I believe that the world should be interpreted fiom an Asian/Black perspective.

19. I have changed my style of life to fit my beliefs about Asian/Black people.

20. I feel excitement and joy in Asian/Black surroundings.

21. I believe that Asian/Black people initially came from a strange and uncivilized
continent.

22. People, regardless of their race, have strengths and limitations.

9’!"

"‘.‘°.°°.\'.O‘P':“

39

23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.

29.
30.

I find myself reading a lot of Asian/Black literature and/or thinking about being
Asian/Black

I feel guilty or anxious about some of the things that I believe about Asian/Black
people.

I believe that an Asian/Black person’s most effective weapon for solving problems
is to become a part of the White person’s world.

I speak my mind regardless of the consequences (e.g., being kicked out of school,
being exposed to danger, etc.).

I believe that everything Asian/Black is good, and consequently, I limit myselfto
Asian/Black activities.

I am determined to find my Asian/Black identity.

I believe that White people are intellectually superior to Asians/Blacks.

I believe that because I am Asian/Black, I have many strengths.

40

APPENDIX C

White Racial Identity Attitudes Scale (WRIAS)

This questionnaire is designed to measure people’s social and political attitudes. There are
no right or wrong answers. We are only interested in your honest opinions. Use the scale
below to describe how you feel about each statement. Please answer all questions.

 

 

l 2 3 4 5
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Uncertain Agree Agree
1. I hardly think about what race I am
2. I do not understand what minority groups want fiom Whites.

3. I get angry when I think about how Whites have been treated by minority groups.
4. I feel as comfortable around minorities as I do around Whites.

5. I involve myself in causes regardless of the race of the people involved in them.
6. I find myself watching members of minority groups to see what they are like.

7. I feel depressed afler I have been around minorities.

8. There is nothing that I want to learn from minorities.

9. I seek out new experiences even if I know a large number of minorities willbe

involved in them.

10. I enjoy watching the different ways that minorities and Whites approach life.

11. I wish I had a fiiend that is a member of a minority group.

12. I do not feel that I have the social skills to interact with minorities effectively.

13. A minority who tries to get close to you is usually after something.

14. When a member of a minority group holds an opinion with which I disagree, I am
not afraid to express my viewpoint.

15. Sometimes jokes based on minorities’ experiences are fimny.

16. I think it is exciting to discover the little ways in which members of minority
groups and White people are difierent.

17. I used to believe in racial integration, but now I have my doubts.

18. I’d rather socialize with Whites only.

19. In many ways minorities and Whites are similar, but they are also different in some
important ways.

20. ' Minorities and Whites have much to learn from each other.

21. For most of my life, I did not think about racial issues.

22. I have come to believe that members of minority groups and White people are very
different.

23. White people have bent over backwards trying to make up for their ancestors’
mistreatment of minorities, now it is time to stop.

41

24.

25.

26.

27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.

33.
34.
35.
36.
37.
38.
39.
40.

41.
42.
43.

45.
46.
47.

48.

49.
50.

It is possible for minorities and Whites to have meaningful social relationships with
each other.

There are some valuable things that White people can learn from minorities that
they can’t learn from other Whites.

I am curious to learn in what ways minorities and White people differ from each
other.

I limit myself to White activities.

Society may have been unjust to minorities, but it has also been rmjust to Whites.
I am knowledgeable about which values minorities and Whites share.

I am comfortable wherever I am

In my family, we never talked about racial issues.

When I must interact with a member of a minority group, I usually let him or her
make the first move.

I feel hostile when I am around minorities.

I think I understand the values of minority groups.

Minorities and Whites can have successfirl intimate relationships.

I was raised to believe that people are people regardless of their race.
Nowadays, I go out of my way to avoid associating with minorities.

I believe that members of minority groups are inferior to Whites.

I believe I know a lot about minority groups’ customs.

There are some valuable things that White people can learn from minorities that
they can’t learn from other Whites.

I think that it’s okay for members of minority groups and White people to date
each other as long as they don’t marry each other.

Sometimes I’m not sure what I think or feel about members of minority groups.
When I am the only White in a group of minorities, I feel anxious.

Minorities and Whites differ from each other in some ways, but neither race is
superior.

I am not embarrassed to admit that I am White.

I think White people should become more involved in socializing with minorities.
I don’t understand why members of minority groups blame all White people

for their social misfortunes.

I believe that White people look and express themselves better than members of
minority groups.

I feel comfortable talking to minorities.

I value the relationships that I have with my fiiends who are members of

minority groups.

42

APPENDIX D

Collective Self-Esteem Scale

We are all members of difl'erent racial groups. In the following statements, we would like
you to consider your membership in your racial group, and respond to the items on the
basis of how you feel about your racial group and your membership in it. There are no
right or wrong answers to any of these statements; we are only interested in your honest
opinions, and all answers are confidential Please read each statement carefirlly, and
respond by using the following scale:

 

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Agree Strongly
Disagree Somewhat Somewhat Agree
1. I am a worthy member of the racial group I belong to.

2. I often regret that I belong to the racial group that I do.

3. Overall, my racial group is considered good by others.

4. Overall, my racial group has very little to do with how I feel about myself

5. I feel I don’t have much to offer the racial goup to which I belong.

6. In general, I’m glad to be a member of the racial group to which I belong.

7. Most people consider my racial group, on the average, to be more ineffective

than other racial groups.

The racial group to which I belong is an important reflection of who I am

I am a cooperative participant in the racial group to which I belong.

10. Overall, I ofien feel that the racial group of which I am a member is not
worthwhile.

11. In general, others respect the racial group of which I am a member.

12. The racial group to which I belong is unimportant to my sense of what kind of
person I am.

13. I often feel I’m a useless member of the racial group to which I belong.

14. I feel good about the racial group to which I belong.

15. In general, others think that the racial group to which I belong is unworthy.

16. In general, belonging to my racial group is an important part of my self-image.

)9.“

43

APPENDIX E

Body Esteem Scale (BES)

Use the scale below to rate the model/yourself on the following physical characteristics.
Please answer as honestly as possible. All answers are anonymous.

 

l 2 3 4 5
Have strong Have moderate Have no feelings Have moderate Have strong
negative negative one way or positive positive
feelings feelings the other feelings feelings

 

1) How do you feel about the model’s/your nose?
2) How do you feel about the model’s/your lips?
3) How do you feel about thw model’s/your ears?
4) How do you feel about the model’s/your hair?
5) How do you feel about the model’s/your chin?
6) How do you feel about the model’s/your chest?
7) How do you feel about the model’s/your eyes?
8) How do you feel about the model’s/your checks?
9) How do you feel about the model’s/your waist?
10)How do you feel about the model’s/your thighs?
11)How do you feel about the model’s/your hips?
12)How do you feel about the model’s/your legs?
13)How do you feel about the model’s/your waist
14)How do you feel about the model’s/your buttocks?
15)How do you feel about the model’s/your figure
16)How do you feel about the model’s/your weight?
l7)How do you feel about the model’s/your stomach?
18)How do you feel about the model’s/your arms?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

44

APPENDIX F

Ratings of Yearbook Photographs

In front of you are pictures of three attractive young women. Please identify the degree to
which you would like to look like each of the women.

Picture 1

1 2 3 4 5 6 7
not at all uncertain very much
Picture 2

1 2 3 4 5 6 7
not at all uncertain very much
Picture 3

1 2 3 4 5 6 7
not at all uncertain very much

45

APPENDIX G

Selves Questionnaire (Part 1)

List 10 physical characteristics that you believe are descriptive of you (e. g., I am short, I
have brown eyes, etc. ). Remember, all answers are confidential so please answer as
honestly and as openly as possible.

“PfiSQMPP’Nr‘

0.

List 10 physical characteristics that you wished you possessed (e.g., I wish I was taller, 1
wish I had blue eyes, etc.). Again, all answers are confidential so please answer as
honestly and as openly as possible.

“99°NP‘E‘PP’P!"

46

Selves Questionnaire (Part H)

Using the items that you listed for your actual self (in Part I), please indicate how

important those physical characteristics are to you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Physical characteristic #1

l 2 3 4 5
very rmimportant somewhat uncertain somewhat
unimportant unimportant important
Physical characteristic #2
1 2 3 4 5
very rmimportant somewhat uncertain somewhat
unimportant unimportant important
Physical characteristic #3

l 2 3 4 5
very unimportant somewhat uncertain somewhat
unimportant mimportant important
Physical characteristic #4
1 2 3 4 5
very unimportant somewhat uncertain somewhat
unimportant unimportant important
Physical characteristic #5

l 2 3 4 5
very rmimportant somewhat uncertain somewhat
unimportant unimportant important
Physical characteristic #6

1 2 3 4 5
very unimportant somewhat uncertain somewhat
rmimportant unimportant important
Physical characteristic #7

1 2 3 4 5
very unimportant somewhat uncertain somewhat
unimportant unimportant important
Physical characteristic #8
1 2 3 4 5
very unimportant somewhat uncertain somewhat
unimportant unimportant important
Physical characteristic #9

1 2 3 4 5
very unimportant somewhat rmcertain somewhat
unimportant unimportant important
Physical characteristic #10

1 2 3 4 5
very unimportant somewhat uncertain somewhat
unimportant rmimportant important

47

important

important

important

important

important

important

important

important

important

important

very
unimportant

very
unimportant

very
unimportant

very
unimportant

very
unimportant

very
unimportant

very
unimportant

very
unimportant

very
unimportant

very
unimportant

 

Using the items that you listed for your ideal self(in Part I), please indicate how

important those physical characteristics are to you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Physical characteristic #1

l 2 3 4 5
very unimportant somewhat uncertain somewhat
unimportant unimportant important
Physical characteristic #2

l 2 3 4 5
very unimportant somewhat uncertain somewhat
unimportant unimportant important
Physical characteristic #3

l 2 3 4 5
very rmimportant somewhat rmcertain somewhat
rmimportant unimportant important
Physical characteristic #4

1 2 3 4 5
very unimportant somewhat uncertain somewhat
unimportant unimportant important
Physical characteristic #5

l 2 3 4 5
very rmimportant somewhat uncertain somewhat
unimportant unimportant important
Physical characteristic #6

1 2 3 4 5
very unimportant somewhat uncertain somewhat
unimportant unimportant important
Physical characteristic #7

1 2 3 4 5
very unimportant somewhat uncertain somewhat
unimportant unimportant important
Physical characteristic #8

1 2 3 4 5
very unimportant somewhat uncertain somewhat
unimportant unimportant important
Physical characteristic #9

1 2 3 4 5
very unimportant somewhat rurcertain somewhat
rmimportant unimportant important
Physical characteristic #10

1 2 3 4 5
very unimportant somewhat uncertain somewhat
unimportant unimportant important

48

important

important

important

important

important

important

important

important

important

important

very
unimportant

very
unimportant

very
unimportant

very
unimportant

very
unimportant

very
unimportant

very
unimportant

very
unimportant

very
unimportant

very
unimportant

Using the physical characteristics that you listed as being ideal, please rate how close you

are to achieving these ideals:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Physical characteristic #1
l 2 3 4 5
not close not close somewhat uncertain somewhat
at all not close close
Physical characteristic #2
1 2 3 4 5
not close not close somewhat uncertain somewhat
at all not close close
Physical characteristic #3
1 2 3 4 5
not close not close somewhat uncertain somewhat
at all not close close
Physical characteristic #4
l 2 3 4 5
not close not close somewhat uncertain somewhat
at all not close close
Physical characteristic #5
1 2 3 4 5
not close not close somewhat uncertain somewhat
at all not close close
Physical characteristic #6
1 2 3 4 5
not close not close somewhat uncertain somewhat
at all not close close
Physical characteristic #7
1 2 3 4 5
not close not close somewhat uncertain somewhat
at all not close close
Physical characteristic #8
l 2 3 4 5
not close not close somewhat uncertain somewhat
at all not close close
Physical characteristic #9
1 2 3 4 5
not close not close somewhat uncertain somewhat
at all not close close
Physical characteristic #10
1 2 3 4 5
not close not close somewhat uncertain somewhat
at all not close close

49

6
close

close

close

close

close

close

close

close

close

close

7
very close

7
very close

7
very close

7
very close

7
very close

7
very close

7
very close

7
very close

7
very close

7
very close

APPENDIX I]

Need for Uniqueness Scale

Please use the following scale in response to each of the items below. Please respond to
each question and do not use fractions or decimals. There are no right or wrong answers.
Please answer all questions.

 

 

l 2 3 4 5 6
Strongly Disagree Somewhat Somewhat Agree Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1. When I am in a group of strangers, I am not reluctant to express my opinion
publicly.

2. I find that criticism afl’ects my self-esteem

3. I sometimes hesitate to use my own ideas for fear they might be impractical.

4. I think society should let reason lead it to new customs and throw aside old habits
or mere traditions.

5. People frequently succeed in changing my mind.
6. I find it sometimes amusing to upset the dignity of teachers, judges, and cultured

people.

7. I like wearing a uniform because it makes me proud to be a member of the
organization it represents.

8. People have sometimes called me a stuck up individual

9. Others’ disagreement make me uncomfortable.
10. I do not always need to live by the rules and standards of society.

11. I am unable to express my feelings if they result in undesirable consequences.
12. Being a success in one’s career means making a contribution that no one else has
made.

13. It bothers me if people think I am being too unconventional.

14. I always try to follow the rules.

15. [fl disagree with a superior on his or her views, I usually do not keep it to myself

16. I speak up in meetings to oppose those I feel wrong.

17. Feeling different in a crowd of people makes me feel uncomfortable.

18. If] must die, let it be an unusual death rather than an ordinary death in bed.

19. I would rather be just like everyone else than be called a fieak.

20. I must admit I find it hard to work under strict rules and regulations.

21. I would rather be known for always trying new ideas than for employing well-
trusted methods.

22. It is better to always agree with the opinions of others than to be considered a
disagreeable person.

23. I do not like to say unusual things to people.

50

24.

25.
26.
27.

28.
29.
30.
31.
32.

I tend to express my opinions publicly, regardless of what others say.

As a rule, I strongly defend my own opinions.

I do not like to go my own way.

When I am with a group of people I agree with their ideas so that no arguments
I tend to keep quiet in the presence of persons of higher rank, experience, etc.

I have been quite independent and free from family rule.

Whenever I take part in group activities, I am something of a non-conformist.
In most things in life, I believe in playing it safe rather than taking a gamble.

It is better to break rules than to always conform to an impersonal society.

51

APPENDIX I

Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale (Time 1)

Please use the following scale to respond to each of the statements below. Indicate the
number that most accurately represents your opinions in the spaces provided. Remember,
there are no right or wrong answers. We are only interested in your honest answers.

 

 

1 2 3 4 5
strongly agree neither agree disagree strongly
agree nor disagree disagree
1. I feel that I am a person of worth, at least on an equal basis with others.

2. I am able to do things as well as most other people.
3. I feel I do not have much to be proud of

4. I take a positive attitude toward myself

5. At times, I think I am no good at all

 

Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale (Time 2)

Please use the following scale to respond to each of the statements below. Indicate the
number that most accurately represents your opinions in the spaces provided. Remember,
there are no right or wrong answers. We are only interested in your honest answers.

 

 

l 2 3 4 5
strongly agree neither agree disagree strongly
agree nor disagree disagree
1. I feel that I have a number of good qualities.

2. I certainly feel useless at times.

3. I wish I could have more respect for myself

4. On the whole, I am satisfied with myself

5. All in all, I am inclined to feel that I am a failure.

52

Table 1
Means and Standard Deviations for All Variables

 

 

Variable r_1 M SD
Change in Esteem 170 -l.56 2.73
Femininity 170 105.81 10.51
Need for Conformity 170 107.32 14.74
Mismatches between actual and ideal selves 170 190.44 86.13
Model body esteem 170 66.27 9.68
Self body esteem 170 59.32 12.02
Yearbook/White 170 2.88 1.83
Yearbook/Asian 170 3.35 2.00
Yearbook/Black 170 3.42 1.80
Identity (collective self-esteem) 170 18.23 6.33
Blacks:

Preencounter (low Black ethnic identity) 52 13.65 3.83

Immersion (high Black ethnic identity) 52 15.50 3.62
Asians:

Preencounter (low Asian ethnic identity) 54 17.46 4.30
Immersion (high Asian ethnic identity) 54 16.02 4.03
Whites:

Contact (low White ethnic identity) 64 34.63 3.91

Reintegration (high White ethnic identity) 64 20.11 4.73

53

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57

Table 6
Smary of HieLarchical Regression Anmsis for Variables Predicting Self Body Esteem

 

Variable .11 5E 13. B

 

Step 1:

Mismatches between

actual and ideal

selves -.0065 .010 -.46*
Step 2:

Mismatches between
actual and ideal
selves -.0058 .010 -.42*

Conformity to
cultural norms -. 133 .058 -. 16*

 

Note. 32:.217 for step 1; A32=.024 for Step 2 (ps<.05)
N=l70

58

Table 7

 

 

 

 

 

Racial Difl‘ergces Among M' , Black, and MWomen
Dependent Variable Race
Asian Black White

Esteem:

Time 1 20.4. 22.5., 20.6.

Time 2 18.6. 21.31, 18.9,
Need for Conformity 111.7. 100.21, 109.5c
Mismatches between 207.5a 163.81, 197.7c
ideal and actual selves
Self BES 58.3, 65.1., 55.5-
Yearbook pictures:

3.1- 1.7., 3.7.

White woman

Asian woman 3.9, 2.3-, 3.8.

Black woman 3.3. 3.53 3.4a

 

 

 

 

Note. Cells in each row not sharing a common subscript differ at the .05 level using

Tukey’s Honestly Significant Difference post-hoe tests.

59

Table 8
T-Tests for Race of Photographs Sm’ 1e Efi‘ects

 

 

 

Race of Participant:
Race of Photographs:
Asians Blacks Whites
if t if t if t
Asianvs. White 53 -3.68*** 51 -2.82** 63 -.512
Black vs. White 53 - 1.25 51 -6.87*** 63 2.00“
Asian vs. Black 53 2.59” 51 -5.70*** 63 2.55"

 

 

 

 

***p<.001
** p<.01
* p<.05

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10
a
a
a I
a
O. a II-flflll o a
fl 8 GOOD 0
w v— - u- I I
II .0 O I
I I II I on
I O O
a
-101
E .-
3 ~10 L - -
20 to O to Q 70 D m

 

Figu_re 1. Self body esteem regressed on change in self-esteem for Asians, Blacks, and
Whites.

61

REFERENCES

References

Arkofl‘, A., & Weaver, H. (1966). Body image and body dissatisfaction in
Japanese Americans. The Journal of Soci_al Psychology, fl, 323-330.

Bem, S. (1981a). Gender schema theory: A cognitive account of sex-typing.
chhological Review, E, 354-364.

Bern, S. (1981b). The Be_m Role Inventory: Professional manual. Palo Alto, CA:
Consulting Psychologists Press.

Bem, S. (1974). The measurement of psychological androgyny. Journal of
Consultin and Clinical P cholo , fl, 155-162.

Bernstein, 1., Lin, T., & McClellan, P. (1982). Cross-vs. within-racial judgments
of attractiveness. Perception and Psychophysics, _32, 495-503.

Cash, T., Cash, D., & Butters, J. (1983). “Mirror, mirror, on the wall..?”
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