Running Head: PREPARATION, APPEARANCE, AND SELF-ESTEEM

Physical Appearance Preparation And Its Relationship To Self-Esteem

Roger M. Jackson
University of California, Santa Barbara

PREPARATION, APPEARANCE, AND SELF-ESTEEM

Abstract
Our study sought to test two hypothesis. One being is there a negative correlation between
self-esteem and preparation time. The other was the presence of a negative correlation between
self-esteem and value of one's appearance. Past research in this direct subject had been nearly nonexistent. However, we found two studies, one relating to Terror Management Theory and the
other about societal pressure that related both direct and indirect pressures affecting self-esteem.
To test our hypotheses,we made a survey gauging the self-esteem, appearance, and preparation
values our 109 undergraduate students possessed. We did not find statistically significant
correlations. Yet, we did find effects in other areas that were not our main focus, such as, negative
effects on self-esteem without adequate preparation and whether or not one goes to social
gatherings based on that. Future research could focus on how these play into time management
and whether it could raise self-esteem.

PREPARATION, APPEARANCE, AND SELF-ESTEEM

Physical Appearance Preparation And Its Relationship To Self-Esteem
As of 2013, there is a lot of value that is placed on appearance and how one looks as they
go about their day. Prevalence of cameras and other technology that can instantly capture a
moment make it very easy for someone to forever be immortalized in a still frame. So knowing
this, does it mean that the average person or in the case of this research, the average UCSB
Psychology student, feel as though if they are not always prepared that they have a lowered selfesteem? We would hope not but this research seeks to answer that question. A key thing to look at
it is people motivations for monitoring their appearance. One study we found was that people
with high self esteem monitor their appearance less even when primed with death (Goldenberg et
al, 2000). This could mean that people who are primed even with the most stressful thing a human
can think about, may not feel as stressed if they are satisfied with their appearance. Since a
portion of our study deals in the social realm it was important to look at what the thoughts were
about social ideas. It has been found that women with higher self esteem report less social
comparison and dissatisfaction (Lennon et al, 1999). It also found that people were more
motivated to buy something from an ad if the model was normalized. People with higher selfesteem thus would feel like they would need to put less time into their appearance and feel less
pressured to appear in certain ways even in very stressful situations. And even seek out things that
were more like themselves. So this study seeks to find two things in order to further under its
relation. One is if there is the existence of a negative correlation between self-esteem and value of
their own physical appearance. And two is if the time taken to prepare for daily activities will also
have a negative correlation with self-esteem.
Methods
Participants
We drew 109 undergraduate students (age: 19-29 M= 21.63 SD=1.324) from Psychology

PREPARATION, APPEARANCE, AND SELF-ESTEEM

120L ab in Advanced Researchon the University of California at Santa Barbara campus
through an online survey. The participants were required to take the survey for the course. There
were 37 male and 72 female participants. Only 14 subjects were born outside the United States
with the remaining 95 being born in the US. The cities they grew up in with regards to California
found that there were 74 from Southern California, 24 from Northern California, 6 from outside
California (but within US), and 5 from Outside the US.
Materials
Self-esteem was measured using the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (1965) that has been
found reliable in testing positive feelings towards oneself. It asks a series of ten questions set to a
1-5 Likert Scale in which it asks the participants how they truly feel about themselves.
They were asked questions like:
I feel that I am a person of worth, at least on an equal plane with others.
Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Neutral, Agree, Strongly Agree
I feel I do not have much to be proud of .
Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Neutral, Agree, Strongly Agree
(Rosenberg, 1965)
Preparation and feelings about appearance were measured by asking participants about
the time it takes them to get ready and whether if they did not have to how they felt about
themselves. The question that dealt with time was done on a continuum going from less than 15
minutes, 15-30 minutes, 30-45 minutes, 45-60 minutes, 60-75 minutes, or more than 75 minutes.
When dealing with the more subject questions of feelings a 1-5 Likert type-scale was used.
Procedures
Participants answered the questions as they were presented to them through the Qualtrics
software in which the questions had been answered. They were told to answer the questions

PREPARATION, APPEARANCE, AND SELF-ESTEEM

honestly and with the best of their ability. And after the 15 minute short survey they were done.
Results
We put all of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale into one composite score in order to make
a better connection with the other single question items. The scale had a Cronbach's alpha of .927
meaning that it was very reliable for this study. The score on the scale ranged from 17 to 50 with
mean = 40.21 and SD = 7.775. We then proceeded to test it against the other results that we had
gotten. On the question of how long does it usually take you to get ready for class, the correlation
with self-esteem was not significant r(df) = -.051, p=.596. The reported negative effect that not
having enough prepare would cause was slightly correlated with self-esteem by r(df) = -.284 p = .
003. Participants likelihood of skipping class when possessing negative feelings of their
appearance was also slightly correlated with self esteem scores by r(df) = -.242 p = .012 . Many
of our other results were not significant or showed even weaker effects than those that are
currently reported.
So from that data, it is easy to see that neither of our hypotheses were supported with us
finding low to no correlation between several of our test items along with the inability to reject
the null hypothesis.
Discussion
This study found no discernible effect of self-esteem on appearance or the preparation of
appearance on a usual day. Certain factors could have accounted for us findings what we received.
For one, there were participants in the survey that were also involved in the creation of the survey
meaning they knew the hypotheses and may have inadvertently answered in a certain way. Two,
when taking the survey there were a number of other surveys that were coupled with it which may
have caused a fatigue effect on the participants. There were also likely things that we could have
done to our hypotheses to get more significant effects. More meaningful data could have been

PREPARATION, APPEARANCE, AND SELF-ESTEEM

gained if the hypotheses focused more on social instances where physical appearance is more
important such as a job interview or a romantic date. Priming or situational questions such as
those would have likely solicited stronger responses. Both of the previous studies mentioned
earlier in the paper had a priming effect in them (death, fashion models) that more focused the
participants on the issue.
Our study could be used as a learning experience for future study. When people self-report
they may not be able to accurately portray what they do and do not do. A better method would
have been to have done the study in a more natural environment where the participants are
observed getting ready in the morning. Data would then be run through a correlation with the
Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale to find a more accurate and meaningful result (Rosenberg, 1965).
Another possibility is having people time themselves for a set period and then using the mean of
the data.
In conclusion, the present study though unable to reject the null hypothesis, finding little to
no effect of preparation on self-esteem, other aspects seemed to have reported stronger effects.
Questions like missing social events due to bad feelings in regards to physical appearance, or the
effect of adequate preparation on self-esteem, could be studied in a more meaningful way to better
understand why they are even minimally negatively correlated on self-esteem. Discovering this
could help people understand the reasons why important issues such a time management and selfimage are related to more positive psychologies.

References
Goldenberg, J. L., McCoy, S. K., Pyszczynski, T., Greenberg, J., & Solomon, S. (2000). The
body as a source of self-esteem: The effect of mortality salience on identification with
one's body, interest in sex, and appearance monitoring. Journal of Personality and Social

PREPARATION, APPEARANCE, AND SELF-ESTEEM

Psychology, 79(1), 118-130.
Lennon, S. J., Lillethun, A. and Buckland, S. S. (1999), Attitudes toward Social Comparison as a
Function of Self-Esteem: Idealized Appearance and Body Image. Family and Consumer
Sciences Research Journal, 27: 37905
Rosenberg, Morris. 1965. Society and the Adolescent Self-Image. Princeton, New Jersey:
Princeton University Press.