The Causal Relationship of Thin Ideal Internalization with Body Dissatisfaction: The Mediating Role of Social Comparison

The purpose of this study was to investigate the causal relationship of thin ideal internalization with body dissatisfaction with mediating role of social comparison.

351 female undergraduate students of Kashan University who were selected by simple random sampling method participated in this research. In order to collect data the Iowa-Netherlands comparison orientation measure (INCOM), Physical Appearance Comparison Scale-Revised (PACS-R), Ideal Body Stereotype Scale-Revised (IBIS-R) and the Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ) were used. Data analysis was performed using structural equation modeling (SEM) and SPSS-21 and AMOS-21 software packages.

The findings indicated that the model fitted the data relatively proper. Better fit and more meaningful results were obtained through correlating the errors of one path. The results also showed that there are significant relationships between the thin ideal internalization and social comparison (both general and appearance-related), and between social comparison (both general and appearance-related) and body dissatisfaction. The findings also supported the mediating role of appearance-related social comparison in the relationship of thin ideal internalization with body dissatisfaction.

According to the findings of this research, considering the causal factors regarding thin ideal internalization and appearance-related social comparison could be beneficial in prevention of body dissatisfaction.