Does culture moderate the relationship between body dissatisfaction and quality of life? A comparative study of Australian and Malaysian emerging adults

Pravina Santhira Shagar; Caroline L Donovan; Jennifer Boddy; Caley Tapp; Neil Harris

doi:10.1177/20551029211018378

Does culture moderate the relationship between body dissatisfaction and quality of life? A comparative study of Australian and Malaysian emerging adults

Health Psychol Open. 2021 May 30;8(1):20551029211018378. doi: 10.1177/20551029211018378. eCollection 2021 Jan-Jun.

Authors

Pravina Santhira Shagar¹, Caroline L Donovan¹, Jennifer Boddy¹, Caley Tapp¹, Neil Harris¹

Affiliation

¹ Griffith University, Australia.

Abstract

Investigating moderating effects of culture between body dissatisfaction (BD) and quality of life (QoL) is paramount, as BD affects psychosocial functioning. Participants include 866 females (18-25) years old from Australia (n = 464) M (20.88) SD (3.38) and Malaysia (n = 402) M (20.63) SD (2.05). Higher levels of BD predicted lower levels of QoL across all four domains. BD had the strongest effect on psychological QoL for both cultures. Culture moderated the relationship between BD and: (i) physical QoL and (ii) environmental QoL. The adverse impact of BD on all domains of QoL, highlights the importance of BD as a public health problem.

Keywords: QoL; body image; culture; health promotion; moderator; public health psychology; quantitative Methods.