Cross-Impact of Self-Assessments of Attractiveness, Its Contribution to Social Status and Self-Attitude in Students

Abstract

The problem of ‘self-attitude — attitude to appearance’ is considered from various perspectives in modern studies, but the issue of the strength of their mutual impact remains unclear. The aim of the study was to determine the relationships between self-attitude and the components of an individual’s attitude to his/her appearance and compare the intensity of their mutual influence. The study considers self-assessments of attractiveness as the component of one’s attitude towards his/her appearance; the impact of one’s attractiveness on his/her social status is considered an indicator emphasizing the influence of the appearance on the individual’s life. The study involved 180 students aged 18—25 years (M age =22); 57% females and 43% males. The following techniques were used: 1) “Self-Attitude Exploration Technique” by S.R. Panteleyev; integral types of self-attitude are considered: ‘Self-respect’, ‘Autosympathy’, ‘Inner Turmoil /Stability’; 2) scales developed by V.A. Labunskaya: self-assessments of attractiveness, assessment of the influence of attractiveness of social status. The comparative analysis of the cross-impact of the factors showed that self-assessments of attractiveness have a greater effect on the types of self-attitudes in students (p≤0,05; 0,00) as compared to the impacts of self-attitude on self-assessments of attractiveness and its influence on social satus.