Do malignant self-regard and depressive personality account for appearance evaluation? Preliminary results

Abstract

Introduction Despite the growing number of studies focusing on the relationship between appearance evaluation and personality dimension, few is known regarding the role of depressive personality and malignant self-regard regarding this topic. Moreover, there is a lack of studies investigating the potential role of both clarity of self-concept and interpersonal exclusion feelings in this relationship. Objectives To extend the knowledge regarding the relationships between malignant self-regard, depressive personality and appearance evaluation. Methods We administered to a very large sample of adults a battery of self-report questionnaires including the subscale Appearance evaluation of the Multidimensional Body-Self Relations Questionnaire, the Self Concept Clarity Scale, the Malignant self-regard questionnaire, the Depressive Personality Inventory and the Core Exclusion Schema Questionnaire. Results We found that depressive personality negatively predicted positive appearance evaluation whereas the inverse pattern of results was obtained in relation to malignant self-regard. Moreover, we found that both poor self-concept clarity and feelings of exclusion mediate the relationship between malignant self-regard and positive appearance evaluation. Conclusions Depressive personality and Malignant self-regard appear to be promising construct to investigate in the field of eating disorders. Disclosure No significant relationships.

Keywords

• depressive personality
• appearance evaluation
• malignant self-regard