Physical Self-Esteem in Teenagers that Use Personal Photos as an Avatar in Their Social Net Profiles

Abstract

The article features the physical self-esteem in teenagers who use different types of avatars in social networks. The empirical data were collected by using questionnaire methods, which involved the modified Dembo-Rubinstein scale, A. G. Cherkashina’s methodology for studying self-attitude to the image of one’s physical self, and a questionnaire of social net experience. The study involved 78 teenagers aged 15–18, including 35 girls and 43 boys. The obtained data were subjected to the Mann-Whitney test and a multivariate MANOVA analysis. The physical self-esteem appeared to correlate with the type of avatar. Teenagers who used their personal photo rated their external characteristics higher and found external attractiveness very important. The girls who used their own photo as an avatar image demonstrated a smaller discrepancy between the current self-assessment of external attractiveness and ideas about their ideal image. The girls who chose non-human images as their avatars had significant discrepancies between the Real Me and the Ideal Me. For the boys who used non-human avatars, the significance of anatomical characteristics was lower, while the discrepancy between the Real Me and the Ideal Me was less obvious than in the same group of girls. The research indicated the diagnostic possibilities of using teenagers’ avatars to study their physical self-esteem.

Keywords

• physical self-esteem
• social networks
• avatar
• i-concept
• teenagers
• boys
• girls