Possible to Have Self Esteem When Overweight

¶ … overweight or obese simply means simply "carrying excess body fat," measured by a height to weight ratio known as a body mass index, or BMI ("Obesity and Overweight in Adults"). In addition to the physical health consequences of being overweight or obese, including lethargy, high blood pressure, and diabetes, there are known mental health concerns including depression, social anxiety, and low self-esteem. Research has consistently shown that being overweight or obese is "strongly correlated with low self-esteem," (Eddy 1).

Low self-esteem can be considered as a cluster of cognitive and emotional variables ranging from perceived self-efficacy to more existential concerns such as "one's capacity to feel worthy of happiness," (Eddy 1). Given there are different types of self-esteem, it may be difficult to absolutely measure the relationship between overweight and self-esteem. Moreover, there will be certain cultural, individual, and contextual variables impacting self-perception regarding body image and body weight. In cultures that value thinness as a body ideal, low self-esteem is a more likely consequence of being overweight or obese.

However, individual differences and culture have a much stronger bearing on overall self-esteem than body weight itself. Age has a bearing on the relationship between self-esteem and body weight. Among younger children, self-esteem is less impacted by body weight than it is among adolescents, when physical appearance becomes a more salient criteria for belonging to social groups or construction of personal identity (Phillips and Hill). Pre-adolescent teens are aware of the way physical appearance impacts their self-image and perception by others, but global self-esteem may remain intact (Phillips and Hill).

Moreover, Phillips and Hill found that among pre-adolescents, it was still possible to remain socially "popular" when overweight or obese (287). Given that age has a bearing on self-esteem in relation to body weight, it remains possible that older children and adults can retain a strong sense of self-esteem and self-efficacy regardless of body mass. Moreover, the degree to which a person's body type deviates from the "thinness ideal" may have a bearing on self-esteem.

Israel and Ivanova found that particularly for girls, being "highly overweight" versus "moderately overweight" has a bearing on self-esteem, with heavily overweight girls reporting lower self-esteem than their moderately overweight counterparts. Interestingly, though, there is a gender difference. The opposite was true for boys, who report lower self-esteem at more moderate levels of overweight versus boys who are highly overweight (Israel and Ivanova). Reasons for the gender difference may be due to the differential means by which boys and girls compensate for factors related to social acceptance.

For example, the boys and girls in the Israel and Ivanova study used "nongender stereotyped ways" to mitigate their body weight to cultivate a strong sense of self-esteem (424). Ways to mitigate body weight include developing skill sets in academic or social areas, which compensate for the deviation in normative body size. The same may be true for adults, who can base their self-esteem on factors related to career achievements or social success instead of body weight.

Culture is one of the most salient variables determining whether a person is capable of maintaining a high self-esteem when overweight or obese. Boyington et al. found that African-American girls do not suffer from the same dips in their self-esteem when they are overweight or obese, and that their self-esteem is much more connected with their social successes in peer groups.

Body image is not as impacted by external factors, and more affected by what their immediate social or familial circles believe about ideal body types, sizes, and weights (Boyington, et al.). Furthermore, being skinny is just as bad for self-esteem development as being overweight for African-American males and females (Boyington et al.). Other cultures do not exhibit as robust patterns related to self-esteem, with Hispanic and whites more likely to have low self-esteem related to body weight than any other cultural groups (Strauss).

Cultural variables include normative body sizes and ascriptions of personal responsibility for body weight. Culture may also influence perception of control over the body and also views towards taking pleasure in food and lifestyle versus making sacrifices related to diet and exercise. Indeed, Boyington et al. found that African-American females were less likely to exercise or eat healthy food because taste and pleasure were deemed more important than the sacrifices that would be made to promote lower body weight. Health concerns are a factor, but are unrelated to self-esteem.

Protective factors that can inspire, promote, and maintain self-esteem among overweight or obese populations include cognitive and emotional self-image, and developing self-esteem that is unrelated to the body. Physical self-esteem does not necessarily have anything to do with global self-esteem, which is linked to factors like success in career (Israel and Ivanova). Perception of control is, however, a major factor in whether a person can maintain self-esteem while overweight or obese. The root cause of all self-esteem may be perception of control and efficacy.

If high body weight is believed to be related to lack of will, lack of impulse control, lack of knowledge, or other markers of personal failure, then self-esteem is more likely to take a beating. On the contrary, if high body weight is believed to be related to genetic or biological factors, then it may be more possible to develop a strong sense of self-esteem even while overweight or obese, and in spite of the media messages dictating normative body sizes (Klaczynsky, Goold and Mudry).

The internalization of strict cultural standards for body weight and body aesthetic is itself linked to self-esteem, as a person who depends on external validation is more likely to have low self-esteem than someone who feels innately strong and capable and who depends on internal or cognitive factors for self-validation. Although self-esteem is possible among overweight and obese populations, there remains a notable portion of overweight and obese persons who do suffer from mental health issues related to self-esteem.

As Mills points out, being overweight or obese can cause feelings of shame and inferiority, reinforced by cultural values and norms. A loss of energy related to the physical consequences of obesity or overweight can also cause a loss of "joy for life," which detracts from self-esteem and the capacity to feel joy (Mills).

A distorted sense of one's own appearance, or body dysmorphia, is also linked to self-esteem and could even be one of the causal factors for the types of disordered eating that cause overweight or obesity in the first place (Eddy). If a person is aware that his or her disordered eating or lack of exercise has led to overweight or obese conditions, and if it has become extremely difficult to lose weight due to metabolic concerns, self-esteem might be extremely difficult to recover.

The loss of self-esteem may be especially poignant among individuals who buy into the thinness ideal or among individuals whose cultures value thinness. Self-esteem is linked to individual and cultural factors. Whether or not it is possible to have high self-esteem while overweight or obese depends on.