Introduction
The fashion industry, and modeling in particular, is a relatively understudied field of activity and research in the literature has focused mostly on personality traits, body schema, and ultimately self-esteem (Meyer et al., 2007; Zancu, Rodgers & Enea, 2019; Zancu, Dafinoiu & Enea, 2021; Chacon-Araya, Castillo-Hernandez & Moncada-Jimenez, 2019). We can, however, understand why these variables are so important for this labor sector. Regarding the study of body schema, especially body image and dissatisfaction with one's own body, the literature has provided uncertain results (Patrício et al., 2023; Collison & Barnier, 2020), where models either had a higher dissatisfaction with the body than the control group, or had a lower dissatisfaction, which made us consider that often this aspect is more related to the specific organizational environment in which the models work and less to this job at a general level. In addition, self-esteem also suggested contradictory results (Collison & Barnier, 2020; Patrício et al., 2023), which is why we considered a research in this direction is auspicious.
Body image and dissatisfaction with the body
It is desirable to emphasize that negative body image is an umbrella concept that includes an erroneous perception of one's own body (individuals perceive themselves differently than they really are), body dissatisfaction (in relation to the ideal body) and at the pathological level (which we did not address in our study) – body dysmorphic disorder (Cash, 1994). Cash (2007 apud Stefan, 2021, p.230) highlights: "Body image refers to the multifaceted experience of being incorporated, and especially, but not exclusively, to one's physical appearance".
Body image encompasses the thoughts, feelings, and actions individuals have on their own bodies, so polarizing either positively or negatively leads to either a negative body image or a positive body image (Patrão et al., 2022; Cash & Deagle, 1997; Cash et al., 2002; Cash, 2004; Stephen, 2021).
As for the term body image, it appeared in the literature in 1935, in a publication by P. Schilder, but it seems that the idea of an erroneous-perceived body image dates back to the XIX century (Rusanovschi, 2017).
As mentioned before, there are two directions when it comes to body image. The positive one, in which the individual perceives himself in an adequate way, in accordance with reality and accepts his body, so that he has feelings of respect, contentment and care for it. It is important to note that a positive body image does not automatically include the fact that you like your body, but only that you accept it without trying to change your way of eating, behaving, doing physical activities to improve this image (Cash, 1994). M. Stefan (2021) highlights that a positive image implies "that external appearance has nothing to do with our personal value" (p.232).
Dissatisfaction with your body is a subcomponent of negative body image and involves having negative thoughts and feelings about your body. People who suffer from this dissatisfaction are often victims of social comparison, so they compare themselves to the ideal body image they imagine or observe in the media (Patrão et al., 2022). "Adolescents seem to be much less able to reject the ideal of the perfect body promoted in the media" (Rusanovschi, 2017, p.248).
Body misperception is the erroneous way an individual sees and relates to their own body. It is different from body dissatisfaction because we can be dissatisfied with our bodies and still have an adequate perception of ourselves.
Individuals who have a negative body image believe that their outward appearance coincides with their personal worth (Stefan, 2021). Or, as we know, physical appearance can be mistakenly associated with good qualities (the effect "what is beautiful is also good"), desirable by others (Sintion, 2018; Sintion, 2022) but is not actually a preacher of personal worth.
According to Patrão et al. (2022) a negative body image correlates and is a predictor of low self-esteem, anxiety, depression, stress, frequent diets, disorganized eating and eating disorders.
M. Stefan (2021) shows that there are four components that can lead to a negative body image. Social comparisons, as we have seen before, are poor behaviors that can lead to body dissatisfaction. Gremillion (2005) points out that sociocultural influences can lead to such problems, so that women in the US are more valued if they are thin (stereotype 90-60-90) while in underdeveloped countries, plump, voluptuous women are more valued than those with a lower weight. Negative talk about our body from family or friends is another factor. And finally, the last factor refers to the stages of life, so women can have a more pronounced negative image after childbirth or menopause, as well as men in andropause. In general, adolescents face problems with dissatisfaction with their own body.
Being dissatisfied with someone's shape or weight can put someone at risk of engaging in disordered eating or developing a clinical eating disorder. However, body dissatisfaction alone is not enough to be diagnosed with an eating disorder (Patrão et al., 2022).
Self-esteem and unconditional acceptance of oneself
Self-esteem and unconditional self-acceptance are closely related concepts.
Self-esteem is a self-evaluation that each person makes, considering both personal successes and failures. Sălceanu (2015) highlights that self-esteem measures how everyone thinks rather than how they really are. Self-esteem comprises (I. Racu, 2014): the real self, the physical self, the cognitive self, the emotional and social, spiritual self. Among these, the physical self refers to: "the external appearance and acceptance of one's own body, that is, what the individual thinks about his body and how comfortable he feels in it" (Racu, 2014, p.70).
Self-esteem can be described as our own assessment of our dignity as individuals, a judgment whether or not we are good, valuable people. One of the founding fathers of Western psychology, William James, argued that self-esteem is an important aspect of mental health, considering it as a product of perceived competence in areas of importance (James, 1890, apud Neff, 2011).
"Self-esteem is a key element of the personality system and interpersonal and social behavior of individuals; therefore, it has become the main objective of research in several branches of psychology, but without resulting from them a definition of self-esteem universally accepted and used" (Sîntion, 2007, p.299-300).
It is regarded as a fundamental human need, part of the process of life, indispensable for normal and healthy development, and is often considered vital for survival in a society like ours. Self-esteem is an automatic and inevitable consequence of the individual's choices (Mineva et al., 2018).
Maslow (2007) argues that self-esteem is a basic human motivation, so appreciation of others as well as respect for oneself builds the self-system, these needs must be met in order to reach a self-actualization.
The processes related to the formation and development of self-esteem determine the perimeters of the relationship between adolescents and the surrounding world, contribute to their development and to the competence and quality of the activities in which they engage (Minev et al., 2018). According to C. Andre and F. Lelord (2003) "there are four types of self-esteem: stable high self-esteem and low low self-esteem, as well as stable low self-esteem and unstable low self- esteem" (Pleșca, 2015, pp. 13-17).
On the other hand, unconditional self-acceptance is a psychological concept that is intended to replace the classic concept of self-esteem. Ellis (1994) is the one who proposes it and motivates the need to replace self-esteem because it is rational rather than affective and therefore irrational and maladaptive. The unconditional acceptance of oneself has its origins in Ellis' psychotherapeutic conceptions, which lays the foundations of rational-emotive therapy (Ciorbea, 2013).
We have previously seen that people who have a strong negative image of themselves tend to devalue themselves, believing that their physical appearance defines their intelligence and skills, moral and social values. Although there is no correlation between physical appearance and intelligence or skills, they have low self-esteem, in fact negative body image and eating disorders can be a prediction for low self-esteem.
Research methodology
Purpose of research
The purpose of this research is to compare a number of psychological factors, especially those related to body appearance, self-acceptance and self-esteem, between people who practice modeling and those who do not. We believe that the fashion industry accedes to strict criteria, which can restructure the personality of models.
Research objectives
Goal 1: Identify differences between people who are models and those who are not in terms of body dissatisfaction.
Goal 2: Identify differences between people who are models and those who are not in term of self-esteem.
Goal 3: Identify differences between people who are models and those who are not in terms of unconditional self-acceptance.
Research hypotheses
Hypothesis 1: It is assumed that there are differences between people who practice modeling and those who do not practice in terms of dissatisfaction with their own body.
Hypothesis 2: It is assumed that there are differences between people who practice modeling and those who do not practice in terms of self-esteem.
Hypothesis 3: It is assumed that there are differences between modelers and non-modellers in terms of unconditional self-acceptance.
Presentation of the sample
Respondents were divided into two groups. The first group contains people who are employed at a modeling firm, as a model, in a total of 30 female. The second group contains 30 women from the normal population in Romania who have not worked and do not work as models at any modeling house. Of the 60 subjects, all are girls between the ages of 19 and 25, with the average = 22.4.
Tools used
For the three dependent variables in this study, we used three separate tools.
To assess body-dissatisfaction we used the BD questionnaire – body dissatisfaction from the EDI-3 Inventory.
Rosenberg's self-esteem scale was used to measure self-esteem.
The USAQ questionnaire was used to measure unconditional self-acceptance.
Research design
This research was conducted between March 2024 and May 2024, the questionnaires were administered online and the sample was compiled using the convenience method. After obtaining the data and their statistical analysis in the SPSS statistical program, we discussed the results and validated our hypotheses.
Ethical considerations
All participants were informed about their purpose, objectives, assumptions and working practices, and no one was obliged to participate. They understood that they had the right at any time to renounce involvement in research and that the information provided remained anonymous, and used only for statistical purposes, to compare the means of the two samples.
Data analysis and interpretation
Hypothesis 1
The first hypothesis assumes that there are statistically significant differences between people who practice modeling, so who are employed as models, and those who do not, in terms of dissatisfaction with their own bodies. We used the SPSS statistical program to test this hypothesis. The averages of the two groups were: people practicing this profession – m = 9.83; people who do not practice this profession – m=14,03. To check the type of score distribution we used the Kolmogorov-Smirnov statistical test, the results of this test are p > 0.05 (p = .200). For both samples, the distributions are normal and symmetric, so we choose a parametric statistical method for comparing the means.
Since the statistical significance coefficient is < 0.05, our hypothesis is confirmed, which means that people who practice modeling have a lower body dissatisfaction than people who do not practice modelling. Our results are consistent with those in the literature (Brenner & Cunningham, 1992; Patrício et al., 2023; Zancu, Rodgers & Enea, 2019; Zancu, Dafinoiu & Enea, 2021).
Table 1 - Statistical test t for two independent samples (BD)
|
Levene's Test for Equality of Variances
|
|
|
t-test
|
for Equality
|
of Means
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sig. (2-tailed)
|
Mean Difference
|
Std. Error Difference
|
95% Confidence Interval of the Difference
|
|
|
|
F
|
Sig.
|
t
|
Df
|
Lower
|
Upper
|
|
BD
|
Equal variances
assumed
|
,016
|
,900
|
- 2,076
|
58
|
,042
|
-4,200
|
2,023
|
-8,250
|
-,150
|
|
|
Equal variances
not assumed
|
|
|
- 2,076
|
58,000
|
,042
|
-4,200
|
2,023
|
-8,250
|
-,150
|
The Pygmalion effect (Sintion, 2022, p.48) refers to "Self-realizing prediction". People who have an influence on us, those who have a certain meaning for us (be it boss, parent, friend, boyfriend/girlfriend) can create a prediction by their high expectations of us. Thus, a person with a positive body image, who is more involved in social activities, more communicative, more involved and extraverted will have many opportunities in which to present their potential, and if close, important people or even strangers make assumptions based on body appearance, they will unconsciously set certain behaviors, such as high self-esteem, self-confidence and a lower dissatisfaction with their own body. In the case of models, they are appreciated by both close friends and strangers, which will strengthen their belief that they are appreciated for their body and will make them manifest such appreciative behaviors in turn. In addition, we believe that an important role in this direction is also played by a healthy organizational environment.
Hypothesis 2
The second hypothesis assumes that there are statistically significant differences in self-esteem between people who practice modeling, i.e. who are employed as models, and those who do not. We used the SPSS statistical program to test this hypothesis. The averages of the two groups were: people practicing this profession – m = 35.4; people who do not practice this profession – m
= 30,43. To check the type of score distribution we used the Kolmogorov-Smirnov statistical test, the results of this test, for both samples, suggest abnormal distributions, so we choose a non- parametric statistical method of comparing the means.
Table 2 - Mann-Whitney U test for two independent samples (RSES)
|
|
Self-esteem
|
|
Mann-Whitney U
|
305,000
|
|
Wilcoxon W
|
770,000
|
|
Z
|
-2,155
|
|
Asymp. Sig. (2-tailed)
|
,031
|
Since the statistical significance coefficient is < 0.05, our hypothesis is confirmed, which means that people who practice modelling have a higher self-esteem than people who do not practice modelling. Our results are consistent with those in the literature (Brenner &; Cunningham, 1992; Pires et al., 2012; Patrício et al., 2023).
We have previously seen that people who have a strong negative image of themselves tend to devalue themselves, believing that their physical appearance defines their intelligence and skills, moral and social values. Although there is no correlation between physical appearance and intelligence or skills, they have low self-esteem, in fact negative body image and eating disorders can be a prediction for low self-esteem. People who suffer from a negative body image consider that their physical appearance is the center of attention for others and therefore they feel rejected, they often do not get involved in social activities, they feel ashamed and because they constantly devalue themselves they do not succeed – here again we recall the Pygmalion effect – and as self- esteem is amplified by our successes and decreased by our failures, We can say that this is a factor that plays a solid role. Also, a possible explanation relates to social blame. Self-esteem increases when we are accepted by society and decreases when we are socially rejected (Sintion, 2018) and models are often valued for their physical appearance, which leads to increased self-esteem and self-confidence.
The individual is "a social animal" and without taking part in society, he cannot live, develop and live harmoniously, so that automatically his self-esteem increases in the context of an organizational environment that is based on appreciation from a large number of people, some even important in the media and society.
Hypothesis 3
The third hypothesis assumes that there are statistically significant differences between people who practice modeling, that is, who are employed as models, and those who do not, in the unconditional acceptance of themselves. We used the SPSS statistical program to test this hypothesis. The averages of the two groups were: people practicing this profession – m = 102,37; people who do not practice this profession – m = 102,7. To check the type of score distribution we used the Kolmogorov-Smirnov statistical test, and the results of this test, for both samples, suggest abnormal distributions, so we choose a non-parametric statistical method of comparing the means.
Table 3 - Mann-Whitney U Test for Two Independent Samples (USAQ)
|
|
Acceptance. unconditional
|
|
Mann-Whitney U
|
428,000
|
|
Wilcoxon W
|
893,000
|
|
Z
|
-,325
|
|
Asymp. Sig. (2-tailed)
|
,745
|
Since the statistical significance coefficient is > 0.05, our hypothesis is not confirmed, which means that there are no differences in the unconditional acceptance of oneself between models and non-models. There are papers in the literature confirming our results (Kaewsnan, 2000).
Park (2005 apud David, Boyne & German, 2009) believes that fashion, and how the fashion industry views body changes, can influence self-acceptance. However, Rosida & Saputri (2019) suggests that self-acceptance should not be seen as a concept determined by criteria such as having a lean body, skin of a certain color, imperfections. This implies that unconditional acceptance of oneself, as the name implies, is "unconditional" by factors such as job, appearance, gender, body shape, because it implies accepting oneself according to the totality of behaviors we have always manifested, not just a behavior that has failed or not in a certain set time.
Conclusion
This study was conducted between March 2024 and May 2024 and involved identifying differences between models and non-models in terms of body dissatisfaction, self-esteem and unconditional self-acceptance. The following questionnaires were applied: Rosenberg's Self- Esteem Scale (RSES), Unconditional Self-Acceptance Questionnaire (USAQ), and Body Dissatisfaction (BC) scale from EDI-3 to a sample of 30 models and a control group of female students aged 20 to 25. Following statistical processing and psychological interpretation, we came to the following conclusions: 1) models showed lower body dissatisfaction than the control group,
2) models showed higher self-esteem than the control group, 3) there were no differences between the model group and the control group regarding unconditional self-acceptance.
Regarding a limit of our study, we can say that due to the sampling method of convenience we cannot generate the research results at the level of the entire model population, because the 30 models come from a single modeling house in a large city of Romania.
Finally, as a future research direction, we aim to investigate possible differences between models from different modeling houses in Romania, regarding a series of variables such as: self- esteem, self-confidence, dissatisfaction with the body, unconditional acceptance of one's own person, value system, personality and others.
