Mexican American female adolescent self-esteem: The effect of body image, exercise behavior, and body fatness

Self-esteem the evaluative manner in which one judges herself or himself; forms the foundation of emotional well-being. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association of Mexican American female adolescents' self-esteem with body image, exercise behavior and body fitness. Two hundred fifty-four subjects, ranging in age from 13 to 15 years, were drawn from a predominantly Mexican American population located in the Lower Rio Grande Valley region of Texas. Data were gathered through a self-report instrument consisting of self-esteem, body image, and exercise involvement scales and anthropometric measures. Results indicated significant positive relationships between self-esteem and body image and exercise involvement and a significant negative relationship between self-esteem and body fatness. Body image, followed by exercise, exerted the strangest explanatory power of subjects' self-esteem scores. Findings suggest that a degree of body distortion exists in female Mexican American adolescents.