earticle

영어

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to compare sociocultural attitudes toward appearance, appearance satisfaction, and peer relationships between male and female middle school students, and to compare the effects of these variables on self-esteem in students of different genders. Methods: Data were collected in August and September of 2023 and analyzed using SPSS 24.0. Data were collected from 289 male and 240 female students through a survey, and descriptive statistics, x2 test, t-test, Scheffé test, and multiple regression analysis were conducted. Results: Female students showed significantly higher scores for sociocultural attitudes toward appearance (3.06±0.77 vs. 2.82±0.74), significantly lower scores for appearance satisfaction (2.55±0.46 vs. 2.71±0.40), and significantly higher scores for peer relationships (3.46±0.69 vs. 3.00±0.78) than male students. Additionally, self-esteem was significantly lower in female students (2.84±0.59) than in male students (2.95±0.51). As a result of adjusting for weekly allowance, subjective academic achievement, family economic status, stress, and experience of sadness or despair, which were significant in the univariate analysis, self-esteem increased as appearance satisfaction (p for all <.001) and peer relationships increased in both male (p=.009) and female (p<.001) students. In addition, sociocultural attitudes toward appearance did not have a significant impact on self-esteem in both male and female students. Among general characteristics, weekly allowance, subjective academic achievement, and stress were found to have a significant effect on self-esteem in both genders. Relationships with parents had a significant effect on self-esteem only in male students, and experience of sadness or despair had a significant effect only in female students. Conclusion: In order to improve self-esteem in both boys and girls, appearance satisfaction and peer relationships should be improved. As boys with poor relationships with their parents and girls with high levels of sadness or despair are particularly likely to have low self-esteem, they are to be considered as a high-risk group.