Abstract
Studies investigating specific determinants of subjective wellbeing (such as body image perceptions) using experimental/quasi-experimental methods are lacking. Furthermore, few studies considered more than one dimension of wellbeing, used multi-country samples, or considered a variety of determinants/correlates of wellbeing. Only a small minority of studies are on adolescents. I used a large multi-country sample of 15-year-old students, to implement an innovative methodological approach which accounts for potential endogeneity of body image perceptions and derive estimates of the effect of body image on the cognitive and emotional wellbeing of adolescent students. I supplemented Instrumental Variables (IV) estimation with the newly developed—instrument free estimation method, to derive gender-specific causal effect estimates. The outcome measures considered are Life Satisfaction (0–10 scale) and Positive Affect. I found that biases associated with endogeneity of perceived body image are more important when emotional wellbeing is considered. Similarly, gender differences in the effect of body image satisfaction were established only on the emotional dimension of wellbeing (Positive Affect); the effect size for girls is about three times larger than for boys.
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Data Availability
The datasets analysed during the current study are available from https://www.oecd.org/pisa/data/2018database/
Notes
By endogenous I refer to a covariate appearing in a model which is correlated with unobserved characteristics which also affect the outcome.
Extended regression models (ERMs), implemented using Stata, are a specific class of models that address complications that arise frequently in data including endogenous covariates, sample selection, and non-random treatment assignment. ERM models are similar to IV regression models and are more flexible with respect to the complications that they address, but rely on previously identified valid instrument/s.
Most of the empirical studies examine how determinants or correlates influence evaluative and/or emotional dimensions of wellbeing.
The endogeneity test is valid insofar as the instrument is valid.
Since KLS estimates are unweighted, they are inconsistent. Corresponding unweighted IV estimates are given for comparison.
Sarrias and Blanco (2020) used this partial identification strategy, in a context similar to this study.
However, another problem in comparing findings is that body appreciation and degree of satisfaction with one’s body image (perceived body image), are distinct from one another; the body appreciation scale in the referenced study is based on different survey questions than those used in deriving the body image perception composite in this study.
While a more detailed investigation is outside the scope of the study, estimation results are available upon request.
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Appendix
Appendix
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Tests of Exclusion Restrictions of Instruments
Graph.
Outcome: Life Satisfaction
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Outcome: SWB-Positive Affect
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Sakellariou, C. The Effect of Body Image Perceptions on Life Satisfaction and Emotional Wellbeing of Adolescent Students:. Child Ind Res 16, 1679–1708 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-023-10029-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-023-10029-x