The objective of this study was to develop a fashion therapy program for improving body image and self-esteem among male workers. Accordingly, the demand for fashion therapy programs was examined by conducting a literature review, survey, and in-depth interviews with men working in the Daegu and Gyeongbuk areas. The results are summarized as follows. The fashion therapy program followed a framework of “introduction-development-final” and was 60 minutes in length, for four sessions (one per week). The contents of the program consisted of a study of the participants’ appearance and any concerns they had about their body in Session 1. In Session 2, differences in image perception were examined according to color coding of menswear and personal color. Session 3 comprised understanding what styling is required to supplement men’s body shape and what style is suitable for each participant. The content of Session 4 determined how to build social performance or positive image using nonverbal elements. Overall, this study has great significance in that it has developed a study on fashion therapy program originally applied for psychological treatment with women that has been adapted as a program to help improve positive emotions and social competitiveness of male workers in an office environment.

The aim of this study is to explore diverse characteristics of females aged 25 to 49 years grouped according to Body Mass Index(BMI), and to investigate the effect of body satisfaction and self-esteem on involvement in dieting within each BMI group. In total, 549 females who participated in an online survey were divided into groups based on BMI(underweight, normal, and overweight). Results demonstrated three key factors, as follows. First, differences were identified among BMI groups according to demographic characteristics(age, household income, and marital status), although no difference according to education level was found. Second, differences according to BMI groups were found in body satisfaction and involvement in dieting, whereas were not found in self-esteem. Third, model testing for each BMI group showed, a positive correlation between body satisfaction and self-esteem in all three groups. However, there was a difference in causal relationships among variable across BMI groups. Body satisfaction negatively affected and self-esteem positively affected involvement in dieting for the underweight and normal groups, whereas there was no causal relationship between variables in the overweight group. Based on these results, basic information of groups segmented by the level of BMI was obtained, which could be used for both academic and practical implications.

The purpose of this study was to investigate self-esteem, body image, body cathexis and body attitude of female middle school students. A total of 298 subjects were included in this study. Subjects were classified into weight control group and a non weight control group. As a result of analyzing body shapes satisfaction was higher in the non weight control group 2.83 than in the weight control group 2.28 (p<0.001). The weight control group revealed lower body satisfaction than the non weight control group. The result of the reason for weight control was the ratio of ‘weight loss’ 84.6%, respectively (p<0.001). Factors impacting physical image of female middle school students were analyzed as friends (3.46), internet (3.22), and TV (3.13). Results suggest that educational program should be combined with a positive emphasis on physical image and self-esteem for female middle school students. Also, there was a high correlation between body weight and self-esteem. Results indicate that female middle school students are interested in weight loss with the wrong body image. Therefore, female middle school students should be provided with an educational approach to such issues so that they have a realistic perception of their body and form realistic values about self-esteem and body.

Some clothing manufacturers and retailers use attractive endorsers on their advertising. However, according to recent research, consumers with low body esteem evaluate the clothing items more negatively when they try them on in the fitting room and find that they are inferior to the attractive advertising endorser wearing the same items (Dahl, Argo, & Morales, 2012). Is it always true? Should clothing companies not use attractive endorsers? When Dahl, et al. (2012) emphasized the negative impact of an attractive endorser and discussed body esteem, they implicitly assumed body-related consumption, in which consumers wear clothing items to enrich their physical appearance. However, other research on fashion has suggested that consumers often wear clothing items for self-expression (e.g., Piacentiti & Malier, 2004). Luxury fashion brands have been particularly regarded as symbols of wealth, so consumers wear luxury fashion clothing items to show off their high status (Shavitt, 1989; Wilcox, Kim & Sen, 2009). Thus, status-related consumption should be considered in addition to body-related consumption. Considering status-related consumption, this research introduces another kind of self-esteem, i.e., status esteem, which refers to how confident consumers are in their status. Assuming that there are two types of self-esteem, body esteem (or external esteem) and status esteem (or internal esteem), both of which are related to clothing, we hypothesize that consumers low in status esteem will evaluate a status-related product more positively than consumers high in status esteem when their consumption aligns (vs. when it does not align) with an attractive endorser even though they are low in body esteem. To test the hypothesis, we conducted three laboratory experiments. The result of multiple regression analysis showed that our hypothesis was supported. By suggesting that even consumers with low body and status esteem can evaluate status-related product positively, when finding that they are inferior to the advertising endorser in terms of body, this research expands our understanding on how attractive advertising endorsers affect consumer evaluation of clothing items focusing on two kinds of selfesteem, body and status esteem.

This study investigated multidimensional body image, self-esteem, clothing benefits sought, and Body Image After Breast Cancer (BIABC) within surgical subgroups among breast cancer survivors. The study applied the questionnaire survey method and the main research was conducted through an online survey. The respondents included 207 breast cancer survivors between the ages of 30 and 59, each of whom received the Multidimensional Body-Self Relations Questionnaire (MBSRQ). Self-esteem, clothing benefits sought, examination, and demographic variables were measured using a 5-point Likert scale. The main results of this study are outlined below. For clothing benefit sought, six factors were formulated—pursuit of self-expression/social approval, function/health, compensation, femininity, fashion, and camouflage—and BIABC was defined by the four factors of body stigma/vulnerability, transparency, limitation and cancer concern. While MBSRQ and self-esteem did not show a statistically significant difference between groups differentiated by the surgical methods experienced, those who underwent mastectomies scored slightly lower than members of the other groups. Moreover, the reconstruction after mastectomy group showed the highest mean on self-expression/social approval, compensation, femininity and entire clothing benefits sought, followed by the lumpectomy group and mastectomy group. The lumpectomy group was found to have more positive BIABC than the mastectomy group. In particular, the mastectomy group showed a lower body stigma/vulnerability mean than the other groups. This study is meaningful in that it improves our understanding of the body image of breast cancer survivors and provides basic knowledge for developing products and marketing strategies for breast cancer survivors as consumers.

본 연구는 여대생의 신체상, 섭식행동 및 자아 존중감을 관계 분석하여 바람직한 식이습관 및 건강생활을 위한 근거를 제시하고자 위한 것으로 첫째, 여대생들의 전공별 신체상과 섭식행위(섭식의도 및 절제) 및 자아 존중감의 차이를 분석하고 둘째, 여대생들의 신체상에 따른 섭식행위 및 자아존중감과의 관계를 분석하였다. 본 연구의 연구대상은 서울시내 여대생을 대상으로 유층집략무선표집을 한 후 총 582명을 대상으로 설문조사한 후 일반전공 194명, 체육전공 215명 무용전공 173명을 대상으로 일원변량분석과 회귀분석을 한 결과 전공별 신체상에서는 건강 체력평가에서 유의한 차이가 나타났고 체육, 무용, 일반집단 순으로 높게 나타났으며, 신장에 대한 불만에서는 일반과 무용이 체육집단에 비해 신장에 대한 불만이 더 높게 나타났다. 섭식행동에서는 정서적 섭식에서 무용과 일반집단이 체육전공집단보다 더 높게 나타났고 절제된 섭식에서는 무용집단이 다른 집단에 비해 더 높게 나타났으며, 외부적 섭식에서는 일반과 무용집단이 체육 전공집단보다 더 높게 나타났다. 신체상과 섭식행동은 사회적 종속성(7.6%), 전반적 외모평가(6.1%), 운동에 대한 효과(4.7%), 몸치장(3.5%), 건강 체력(3.1%)이 영향이 있는 것으로 나타났으며, 신체상과 자아존중감은 전반적 외모평가(10.2%), 몸치장에 대한 관심(6.8%), 건강 체력평가(1.5%) 순으로 설명력을 보여주었다. 이와 같은 결과는 신체상과 섭식행동, 자아 존중감은 영향을 미치고 있음을 보여주었다.