Self-Esteem Self Esteem

Abstract

It has been documented that individuals who are overweight and have negative feelings about their body suffer from having a low self-esteem. Their self-esteem is related to their sexual attractiveness, weight concern and their physical condition. This study will attempt to determine if individuals who suffer from obesity experience low self-esteem related issues; it will also seek to identify if body weight has a greater impact on the self-esteem of females than it does on males.

Does Obesity Have an Effect on an Individual’s Self-Esteem

Introduction

There is a growing body of literature that has evolved over the past few years that indicate a relationship among self-esteem and body weight. This study is being done to

Due to its public health importance this development in child obesity should be closely monitored. Self-esteem has been defined as the individual’s (human being, both male and female) evaluation of their self-worth, their appraisal of their appearance, beliefs and emotions as measured by the Rosenberg’s Self Esteem test. A summary of some of the key empirical studies that are relevant to the study of obesity and its role on self-esteem will now be

With the influences of the media, society is bombarded with images of health, beauty, attractiveness, fashion and fitness. The super, skinny woman and the muscular and handsome man is plastered everywhere, thus adding pressure to conform to these ideals. When people compare themselves to persons different from them, they usually develop an inaccurate appraisal of themselves and their bodies. They may see themselves as lacking and engage in behaviours to emulate the bodies of those presented in the media. As noted earlier, failure to conform to these media images, results in persons regarding their bodies negatively and developing low-self-esteem. (Russello 2013) claims that both men and women are confronted with pressures from the media to conform to society's attractiveness ideal. The study points out that man are not pressured to be thin, but to be muscular. The media exposure has been shown to elevate men’s concern about muscularity, fitness and overall body satisfaction. Rusello further states that the handsome man always gets the beautiful woman and this places pressure to adhere to society’s ideals of what is attractive and what is not. In essence the self-esteem suffers if the success of the attainment of meeting society’s perception of beauty is not