Unhappy with their body?: how Generation Y men respond through clothing behaviors
Date
2017
Authors
Sung, Jihyun, author
Yan, Ruoh-Nan, advisor
Ogle, Jennifer, committee member
Bloodhart, Brittany, committee member
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Abstract
In the Western society, more men have become interested in body-related issues which led to the growth of their body concerns. Further, men have become more involved in fashion which positively influenced the increase of men's clothing consumption recently. Despite of the fact, there has not been much research done based upon men's body-related issues and its influence on their clothing related behavioral responses. The current study investigated whether heterosexual men in Generation Y's self-esteem would influence their degree of body dissatisfaction and how their body dissatisfaction would influence their clothing related behavioral responses, including clothing image avoidance, appearance management, and clothing purchase behavior. Additionally, public self-consciousness was included as a moderator variable to examine its role in the relationship between body dissatisfaction and clothing related behavioral responses, including clothing image avoidance, appearance management, and clothing purchase behavior. Data were collected through online survey using Qualtrics and the Amazon Mechanical Turk system. The final sample consisted of 277 heterosexual adult men in Generation Y (i.e., born in between 1977 and 1994) in the United States. The results of factor analyses showed that body dissatisfaction consisted of three varied factors, including body dissatisfaction-weight, body dissatisfaction-muscles, and body dissatisfaction-height. Therefore, the three different factors were utilized for further analyses. Results showed that self-esteem held a negative relationship with body dissatisfaction, including the three varied factors (i.e., body dissatisfaction-weight, body dissatisfaction-muscles, and body dissatisfaction-height). Further, a positive relationship was found between body dissatisfaction, including the three varied factors and clothing image avoidance. However, only body dissatisfaction-height positively influenced appearance management and body dissatisfaction-muscles negatively influenced appearance management. A positive relationship was found between body dissatisfaction-weight and clothing purchase behavior. However, public self-consciousness did not play a moderator role in the relationships between body dissatisfaction and clothing purchase behavioral responses, including clothing image avoidance, appearance management, and clothing purchase behavior. Both theoretical and managerial implications were discussed based upon the findings of the current study.
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Subject
clothing behaviors
Generation Y
men
body dissatisfaction
self-esteem