Российский психологический журнал (Sep 2023)
Socio-demographic Factors in the Structure of Relationships Between Self-assessments of Appearance and Assessments of Subjective Well-being
Abstract
Introduction. The solution to the problem of the relationship between self-assessments of appearance and assessments of subjective well-being (SWB) can answer the question of the direction in which these phenomena are determined by each other. The research results show the need to consider factors that change the structure of the relationship between self-assessments of appearance and assessments of subjective well-being. This study is the first effort to identify the types of structures of relationships between self-assessments of appearance and assessments of subjective well-being when including such socio-demographic characteristics as gender, age group, level of education, and economic status. Hypothesis: The types of relationships between self-assessments of appearance and assessments of subjective well-being may differ depending on the impact of a combination of socio-demographic factors. Methods. The study used the Socio-demographic Questionnaire, the Self-assessments of Appearance questionnaire by V. A. Labunskaya (2019), and the Subjective Well-Being Scale modified by V. M. Sokolova (1996). Russian-language sample comprised of 163 subjects: (a) 64.5 % – 18–25 years old (mean age = 20.9); (b) 35.5 % – 26–36 years old (mean age = 31.4); 64.5 % of respondents were women; 52.2 % had incomplete higher education; 54.6 % considered themselves to be in the group of ‘rather poor than rich’. Mathematical procedures: frequency, correlation, and factor analyses, t-test for two independent samples (IBM SPPS Statistic 23.0). Results. Four types of relationships were identified. The strongest factor was the aggregate of self-assessments of appearance, associated with belonging to the age group of 26–36-year-olds and with the ‘rather rich than poor’ economic status. Discussion. First, self-assessments of appearance show varying sensitivity to socio-demographic factors and their combination. Secondly, self-assessments of appearance in combination with socio-demographic characteristics are a stronger factor of the direction of associations compared to SWB assessments. Thirdly, there is independence and autonomy of self-assessments of appearance and SWB assessments in young people with certain socio-demographic characteristics.
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