Need for Social Approval and Body Dissatisfaction among University Students

Abstract

Present research was aimed to investigate the relationship between need for social approval and body dissatisfaction among university students. In addition role of different demographic variables was also explored in connection with study vaJiables. Sample of the Study consisted of 300 pal1icipants including both male (n=150) and female (n=150) university students taken from Rawalpindi and Islamabad. The age of palticipants ranged between 17 to 36 years (M = 23 .19; SD = 3.58) Maliin-Larsen Approval Motivation Scale by (MLAMS) by Martin and Larsen (1984) was used to measure need for social approval. Multi-dimensional Body Self-Relation Questionnaire-Appearance Scale (MBSRQ-AS) developed by Cash (2002) was used to measure body dissatisfaction. The reliabilities of the questionnaires were found to be satisfactory. Hypotheses were based on past literature were tested and findings were discussed subsequently. Results indicate for a positive relationship between need for social approval and body dissatisfaction (correlation coefficient between the two is negative but is interpreted so because low score on MBSRQ-AS indicated more dissatisfaction) among university students. Moreover, results showed that need for social approval was more among BS/MSc students as compared to MPhil/PhD students. Also it was shown that female university students have more body dissatisfaction as compared to male students. Furthermore, individuals with more BMI indicated for more body dissatisfaction.