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The Effects of Sociocultural Pressures and Exercise Frequency on the Body Esteem of Adolescent Girls in Korea

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Abstract

Sociocultural pressures to be thin and exercise frequency have been reportedly related to female adolescents’ body esteem in previous research. Using 490 female middle school students in Korea, this study examined the mediating role of thin-ideal internalization on the relationships of sociocultural pressure (i.e., parental, peer, and media) and exercise frequency to body esteem. The results indicated that parental pressure only had a direct relationship with body esteem, but no indirect relationship. Media pressure, peer pressure, and exercise frequency were indirectly, but not directly, related to body esteem through thin-ideal internalization. The implications and future directions of research are discussed.

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Acknowledgements

This work was partially supported by the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies Research Fund.

Author Contributions

SY: designed and executed the study, analyzed the data, and wrote the paper. KS: collaborated with the design and wrote the paper. EK: collaborated with the design and writing/editing of the paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Education, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, 270 Imun-dong, Dongdaemun-Gu, Seoul, 130-791, Korea

    Sukkyung You

  2. Anyang University, College of Liberal Arts, 22, Samdeok-ro 37beon-gil, Manan-gu, Anyang-si, Gyeonggi-do, 430-714, Korea

    Kyulee Shin

  3. Department of Psychology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, 27695, USA

    Eui Kyung Kim

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  1. Sukkyung You
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Correspondence to Kyulee Shin.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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You, S., Shin, K. & Kim, E. The Effects of Sociocultural Pressures and Exercise Frequency on the Body Esteem of Adolescent Girls in Korea. J Child Fam Stud 27, 26–33 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-017-0866-6

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