beauty is as beauty does: body image and self-esteem of pageant contestants

Vol. 8: 231-237, September 2003

ORIGINALRESEARCH

PAPER

231

Key words: Eating disorders, self-esteem, body image.Correspondence to: Sharon H. Thornpson, Ed.D., C.H.E.S., AssociateProfessor, College ofEducation, Coastal CarolinaUniversity, Conway, SouthCarolina, 29528, USA

Beauty is as beauty does: Body imageand self-esteem of pageant contestants

S.H. Thompson, and K. HammondCoastal Carolina University, South Carolina, USA

ABSTRACT. Self-esteem, dieting, and body image of 131 female beauty pageant contestants(mean age 26.0 years) from 43 states were examined by an anonymous survey. Most (89.6%)reported being a pageant finalist or winner and 55.2% had competed at the national/interna-tional level Over one-fourth (26%) of the women had been told or perceived they had an eat-ing disorder which reportedly began at 16.25 years. Almost half (48.5%) reported wanting tobe thinner and 57% were trying to lose weight. Higher self-esteem scores were significantlyassociated with increased level of competition (i.e.: from local to internationai pageants), butnot with the number of times the women were pageant finalists or winners. Future study iswarranted to determine how pageant participation influences self-esteem, body image, andthe development of eating disorders.(Eating Weight Disord. 8: 231-237, 2003). ©2003, Editrice Kurtis

INTRODUCTION

Western cultures are particularly likely topromote the thin beauty ideal and to rein-force cultural beliefs about dieting, eating,and body shape concerns among females(1). Body fat and its distribution play a keyrole in judgments of female attractiveness,health, youthfulness, and reproductivepotential (2).

Numerous researchers have reportedhow the media influences these ideal bodyimages and promotes weight concernamong young girls (3, 4). For example, thefrequency of reading fashion magazinesinfluences the idea of a perfect body shapein 69% of adolescent girls. This effect is sostrong that even 60% of infrequent readersof fashion magazines feel that the mediainfluence their idea of a perfect size (5).Likewise, adolescent girls named mediaimages as exerting the strongest pressureon their desire to be thin (4).

Commonly, stars in American films areportrayed in a beauty-and-goodness stereo-type (6) and a thin ideal size for women ispromoted (7). Physical attractiveness is asso-ciated with positive life outcomes, romance,goodness, and greater favoritism (6).Furthermore, female media stars who arebelow average weight generally receive morepositive feedback from male characters inregard to body weight and shape than heav-ier counterparts. It has been speculated thatyoung girls may see the favoritism of a thin

ideal and this may piace them at risk for the development of eating disorders (7).Watching television ads that portray womenas sex objects has been found to increasebody dissatisfaction among women (8).

One form of media entertainment that iscentered on physical attractiveness is thebeauty pageant. Although there are hun-dreds of different types of beauty pageantsin our country, the Miss America pageantboasts of well over 10 million viewers eachyear (9). The winners of this pageant havebeen getting progressively lighter and tallerover the past eighty years. A 12% drop inweight has accompanied a 2% increase in height during this time frame. Someresearchers have hypothesized that thesewomen are undernourished role models (9).A majority of the pageant winners may beclassified as having one of the major symp-toms of an eating disorder (10). Researchershave recently found that physical attractive-ness may be a risk factor for disordered eat-ing (11). Davis et al. (11), in their years ofworking with eating-disordered patients,found that adolescents with these disordersare usually of above average attractiveness.They hypothesized that attractive girls arecomplimented often on their appearanceand may begin to over-value physical beau-ty, then invest more in this as a measure ofself-worth.

Self-esteem has been recognized as animportant factor in research on healthbehavior and is also a crucial component in

Body image and self-esteem

adolescent development (12). Low self-esteemin overweight female adolescents may beexplained by body image (13). Self-esteem andeating disorders have been linked in previousresearch. Low self-esteem is a recognized traitof those with heightened self-awareness andeating disorders (14). Women who have low-self-esteem, hold perfectionistic attitudes andbelieve they are overweight are more likely tohave bulimic symptoms (15).

Although beauty pageants are quite popularin American culture, few studies have beenconducted which focus on pageant contestants.The purpose of this study is to examine self-esteem, dieting, body dissatisfaction, and bodyimage preoccupation of previous and currentbeauty pageant contestants.

METHODS

Young adult women who were previous orcurrent beauty pageant contestants or whowere planning to be a pageant contestant in thenext twelve months were recruited for surveycompletion. Participation was voluntary,anonymous, and in accordance with universityguidelines for human subjects.

Survey, selection of participants and datacollection procedures

An anonymous 50-item survey, the PageantContestant Survey, was designed to assessdemographics, pageant participation, dieting,perceptions of eating disorders as well as atti-tude toward ideal size, self-esteem, body dissatis-faction, and body image preoccupation. A totalof three-hundred mailing addresses for pageantcontestants aged eighteen and older were pur-chased from a national pageant-related newslet-ter and these persons were mailed an introducto-ry letter, survey, and self-addressed stampedenvelope for survey return. The introductory let-ter and survey were also sent electronically tosubscribers of several on-line pageant mailinglists. Pageant contestants were informed aboutthe purpose of the study and were asked toanswer the questions honestly. All participantshad the opportunity to participate in a randomdrawing for a $50 gift certificate.

MeasurementsDemographic informationThe women were asked if they planned to

enter a pageant in the next twelve months andif they had ever been a pageant contestant.They were then asked the number of years par-ticipating in pageants, the number of pageantsentered, the calendar year of the most recent

pageant entered, and the number of pageantswhere they had been a finalist or won. Theywere also asked the highest level of pageantwhere they had been a contestant and couldchoose between these responses: local, region-al, state, national, and international.

State of residence, gender, level of educa-tion, race, age, height, and weight were self-reported. Height and weight measures wereused to calculate body mass index (BMI) astandard acceptable measure of body size(BMI=kg/m2). BMI is a function of weightadjusted for height and is one of the mostcommonly used methods of weight catego-rization (16). They were placed into one of thefour groups based on their BMI: Under-weight: < 18.5, Average weight: 18.5 ≤ 24.99,Overweight: 25≤29.9, Obese: ≥30.0 (17).

Eating disorderEating disorders were assessed with the

question “Have you ever been told or perceivedthat you had an eating disorder?“. Those whoanswered “yes” were classified as having a pastor current eating disorder and were thenasked, “What age were you at the onset?” and“Did you receive treatment?” Those whoanswered “yes” to the latter question wereasked “What age did you receive treatment?“.A one week test-retest reliability coefficient of1.0 was obtained for these questions with asample of college-age females (18).

Self-esteemThe Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale has 10

items that are measures of global self-worth(19). The test was scored so that low scores onthe five negative statements and high scores onthe positive statements indicated higher self-esteem.

Body image preoccupationThe original 47-item Body Shape Questionnaire

(BSQ) was revised (20) and named the BSQ-R-10(21). The new measure has 8 items from the origi-nal BSQ and 2 new items. It reportedly containsthe highest loads on preoccupation with bodyshape and has an internal consistency of 0.96 (21).Scores on this questionnaire range from 10 (verylow body image preoccupation) to 60 (extremebody image preoccupation).

Ideal sizeSeveral of the items presented to the subjects

utilized a visual scale of seven line drawings offemales which were ranged ordinally on a 7-point scale from 1=quite thin through 7=quiteheavy (22). Similar pictorial instruments havebeen previously assessed for accuracy as an

232Eating Weight Disord., Vol. 8: N. 3- 2003

S.H. Thompson, and K. Hammond

233 Eating Weight Disord., Vol. 8: N. 3- 2003

anthropometric measure of adult body size andhave been judged to be strongly correlatedwith actual weight (23, 24).

When presented the drawings they wereasked, “Which of the drawings do you believeis the ideal size for a beauty queen? “Which ofthe drawings do you believe pageant judgeswould select as an ideal size for a beautyqueen”? “Which of the drawings do you feel isan ideal size for a woman”? and “Which of thedrawings looks most like you”? Body dissatis-faction was defined as the score for the draw-ing selected as their current size minus thescore of the drawing for ideal size.

Weight management practicesA single item was used to measure current

weight management practices. They wereasked, “Which of the following are you tryingto do about your weight?” and chose betweenthese responses: “lose weight, stay the same,gain weight, or I am not trying to do anything”.

Data analysisMeans and frequencies were used to present

the characteristics of the sample. Chi-squareanalyses were used to examine categorical dif-ferences between reports of an eating disorderand level of body image preoccupation. Pearsoncorrelation coefficients were used to determineassociations for questionnaire items related toBMI, scope of pageant participation, number oftimes a pageant finalist or winner, body imagepreoccupation scores, and self-esteem scores. Aprobability value of <0.05 was required for dif-ferences between groups to be considered sta-tistically significant.

RESULTS

Description of the sample A total of 156 completed surveys were

returned. Seventy-three surveys were returnedby the U.S. Postal Service, which represents a31.1% return rate after bad addresses weresubtracted from the total mailed. Eighty-threesurveys were completed through on-linepageant-related mailing lists. Males (n=6),respondents under 18 years of age (n=10), andthose who had never been in a pageant or werenot considering entering a pageant in the nextyear (n=9) were removed from the final sample.

The final sample included 131 women fromforty-three states with a mean age of 26.0 years(SD=7.68). Participants represented the followingethnic-racial groups: 80.9% Caucasian, 6.9%African-American, 3.8% Hispanic, 1.5% NativeAmerican, 8% Asian American, and 6.1% other.

With respect to education, 4.6% had completedless than a high school education, 29% were highschool graduates, 54.2% were college graduates,and 12.2% had completed post graduate work.

Pageant participation All participants had either been in a pageant

(94.5%) and/or were planning to enter apageant in the next year (62.5%). The womenhad participated in pageants a mean of 6.73years. The mean year of the most recentpageant entry was 1997; however, 47% of therespondents were pageant contestants in theyear 2000. They had entered a mean of 15.19pageants and been pageant finalists or winnersa mean of 9.59 times. Almost ninety percent(89.6%) reported they had been a pageant final-ist or winner at least once. When asked thehighest level of pageant participation, mostreported national at 43.2%, followed by state at28%, local at 12.8%, international at 12%, andregional at 4.0% (Table 1).

Current, desired, and highest body mass index

The women self-reported a current meanweight of kg. 64.3 (SD=14.46) and a mean heightof cm 165 (SD=8.6). Self reported weights andheights were then converted into BMI scores. Themean current BMI for the women was 23.69(SD=5.35). When their desired weight was adjust-ed for height to determine BMI, their desiredBMI was 21.01 (SD=2.83). Their highest reportedweight adjusted for height as a BMI was 25.64

TABLE 1Means and percentages for selected questionnaire items

related to pageant participation (n=131).

Characteristic %

Previously been in a pageant 94.5%

Planning to enter a pageant in the next year 62.5%

Highest level of pageant participation:

Local 12.8%

Regional 4.0%

State 28%

National 43.2%

International 12%

Mean SD Minimum Maximum

Year of most recent pageant entry 1997 4.23 1980 2000

Number of pageants entered 15.19 20.75 1 99

Number of times been a pageant winner or finalist 9.59 14.8 0 85


(SD=6.08). The means for current and desiredweight fall into the NIH average weight category;highest reported mean BMI falls into the over-weight category (17). It was found that 5.5% wereunderweight, 68.5% were average weight, 23.8%were overweight, and 16.7% were obese basedon the BMI categories (17).

Self-esteem The mean score on the self-esteem scale for

the women was 8.67 (SD=1.79). When thesescores were divided into three groups, high,moderate and low, it was found that 6.9%scored in the low, 4.65% in the moderate, and88.5% in the high self-esteem categorles.

Eating disorder Over one-fourth (26%) of the women said

they had been told or perceived they had aneating disorder which began at a mean age of16.25. Of those who answered affirmatively tothis question, 8.8% said they sought treatmentfor the eating disorder at a mean age of 18.43(Tables 2 and 3). Almost fourteen percent(13.8%) reported their eating disorder beganthe same year they started participatìng inpageants. Forty-one percent reported pageantparticipation prior to developing an eating dis-order and 44.8% said they developed the eatingdisorder after pageant participation began.

Body image preoccupation The mean score for the women on the Body

Shape Questionnaire-R-lO (21) was 30.60(SD=12.66). When examining the ranges ofBSQ-R-10 scores, it was found that 21.5% ofwomen had high body image preoccupation(score of 40-60, n=28), 60% had moderate bodyimage preoccupation (scores of 20-39, n=78)and 18.5% fell into the low body image preoc-cupation category (scores less than 20, n=24). Achi square test of these three categories by per-ception of eating disorder (yes or no) revealedno significant differences between thesegroups [χ2 (2, n=130)=0.415, p=0.812].

Ideal sizeWhen examining means for ideal size using

the Collins drawings (22), the value was lowestfor the drawing the women believed would beselected by pageant judges as a winner (χ=2.63,SD=0.61), followed by the size they believedwas ideal for a beauty queen (χ=2.91, SD=0.67),an ideal size for a woman (χ=3.31, SD=0.60),and finally the size most like themselves(χ=3.75, SD=0.93) (Fig. I).

When examining the percentages who select-ed different drawings, a majority of the women(57.5%) selected drawing #3 as an ideal size fora woman, followed by drawing #4 (35.4%),drawing #2 (6.3%), and drawing #5 (0.8%).When asked the ideal size for a beauty queen,most selected drawing #3 (64.8%) followed bydrawing #2 (17.2%), drawing #4 (14.8%), anddrawing #1 (3.1%). Next, the women wereasked the body size they believed pageant-judges would most likely select as the ideal


TABLE 2Eating disorders among pageant contestants (n=131).

Characteristic % N Mean SD

Have you ever perceived or Yes - 26% 34been told that you have an eating disorder?

For those answering yes:

When did the eating disorder begin? 16.25 3.53years

Did you receive treatment? Yes-8.8% 8

For those answering yes:

What age did you 18.43 6.60receive treatment? years

TABLE 3Reports of an eating disorder and dieting to lose weight

by selected characteristics of respondents (n=131).

Characteristic N Reports of an Dieting to eating disorder lose weight

Level of pageantparticipation

Local 16 18.75% 66.67%

Regional 5 20% 40%

State 35 28.57% 51.43%

National 53 22.64% 50.98%

International 15 33.33% 73.33%

Body image preoccupation

Low 24 20.8% 12.5%

Moderate 78 25.64% 60%

High 28 28.57% 85.71%

Self-esteem

Low 9 22.22% 55.56%

Moderate 6 16.67% 66.67%

High 115 26.09% 56.25%

Body Mass Index. kg/m2

Underweight 7 57.14% 0%

Average weight 87 22.99% 54.02%

Overweight 21 20.83% 71.43%

Obese 12 33.33% 83.33%



beauty queen size and 56.6% selected as draw-ing #3, followed by drawing #2 (36.4%), draw-ing #4 (4.7%), and drawing #1 (2.3%).

Body dissatisfactionUsing the body size drawings, almost fifty-

percent (48.46%) selected a drawing size for“ideal woman” that was thinner than the sizethey selected for “like you”. When examiningrates of wanting to be thinner by BMI category,14.29% of the underweight, 36.78% of the aver-age weight, 79.17% of the overweight, and91.67% of the obese selected a body size draw-ing as ideal that was thinner than the size theyselected that looked most like themselves.

Weight management practices When asked, “What are you trying to do

about your weight? “most were trying to loseweight (57%), followed by “stay the same”and “nothing”, both at 20.3%. OnIy 2.3% weretrying to gain weight. When dieting rateswere examined by categories of BMI, 83.3%of the obese, 71.4% of the overweight, 54% ofthe average weight, and none of the under-weight women were currently trying to loseweight.

Bivariate correlation Pearson correlation coefficients were next cal-

culated to determine significant associationsbetween BMI, body image preoccupation, self-esteem, level of pageant participation (1-local to5-international), and number of times a pageantfinalist or winner (Table 4).

DISCUSSION

The goal of this study was to explore bodyimage, self-esteem, and eating disorders amongbeauty pageant contestants. Overall, we foundthat 26% of the female pageant contestants weretold or perceived that they had an eating disor-der, a percentage that is quite high. Previouslyreported prevalence rates of anorexia (0.5-1%)and bulimia (1-3%) among females in late adoles-cence and early adulthood are much lower thanamong this sample of women (25). Most womenin this study reported that their eating disorderbegan at the same time or after they becameinvolved in beauty pageants. Discovering theeffect of pageant participation on the develop-ment of eating disorders is beyond the scope ofthis study; however, it does raise some interest-

(2,63)Perception ofsize pageantjudge wouldselect as abeauty queen

(2,91)Ideal size for abeauty queen

(3,31)Ideal size for awoman

(3,75)Current bodysize

1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 5.5 6 6.5 7

FIGURE 1Mean selections of current self, ideal size for a woman, ideal size for a beauty queen, and perceptions

of drawing a pageant judge would select as ideal beauty queen (n=131).


ing questions. Since more than one of every fourof these women reported an eating disorder,might those who participate in pageants be try-ing to recover from poor body image throughseeking validation from others that their bodiesare in fact attractive? Or may pageant contes-tants possibly be at risk for the development offuture eating disorders? Although these arepurely speculation, they are interesting questionsfor future research.

It has recently been found that women ofabove average appearance are more likely tohave eating disorders (11). Although this sur-vey did not measure physical attractiveness, wemight surmise that these women, in general,were quite successful in pageants based on thefact that the mean number of times they hadbeen finalists or winners was around ten. If amajority of these women were of above aver-age physical beauty based on cultural stan-dards, this might be supportive of the Davis etal. (11) finding that women of above averageappearance are more likely to have eating dis-orders. This, however, is speculation becauseour survey did not measure physical beauty.

There were no significant differences in bodyimage preoccupation between those whoclaimed to have an eating disorder and thosewho did not. It has been found that more than50% of former adolescent anorexic inpatientsrecovered substantially within seven years (26).In our study the mean age they reported theireating disorder began was almost 10 years lessthan the current average age of the women.Perhaps those with eating disorders had recov-ered or it is also possible they did not actuallyhave a clinical eating disorder, but merely per-ceived so.

The mean for the size they believed would be

selected by a pageant judge as an ideal beautyqueen was quite thin at 2.63, followed by theirselection of an ideal size for a beauty queen at2.91. These mean values were both lower thanthe size the women selected as ideal for awoman at 3.31 or their current size, 3.75.Although these are just perceptions of what theactual judge would select, it is noteworthy thatthe drawing sizes selected are quite thin.

When examining rates of overweight (BMI≥25), we found higher rates among thesepageant contestants (40%) as compared to 20-29 year-old women (33.1%) in the United States(17). It Is also interesting to compare the resultsof this study with a previous study of weightcontrol practices among adult women (27).Fifty-seven percent of the pageant contestantsin this study and 38.4% of the women in theSerdula et al. study reported they were current-ly dieting to lose weight (27). When examiningrates of dieting among the average weightwomen in both studies based on their BMI,54% of the pageant contestants and 48% of thewomen in the previous study reported theywere currently dieting to lose weight (27).

As has been found in other studies (28, 29),higher body weight (measured by BMI scores)was significantly associated with increasedbody image preoccupation and lower self-esteem. It Is also of interest to note that higherself-esteem was significantly associated withlevel of pageant participation (self-esteemscores increased as the women moved in com-petition from local to intemational pageants),but not with the number of times these womenwere pageant finalists or winners. Body imagepreoccupation was not associated with level ofpageant participation or the number of timesthe women were finalists or winners.

Identifying women interested in pageant par-ticipation for this study was difficult becausemost pageant organizations would not shareparticipants’ contact information or data theyhad collected such as age, height, and weight.For this reason, we used mail and electronic sur-vey distribution methods to increase the samplesize. Future researchers might look for creativeways to identify and follow pageant contestantsover time. Longitudinal research might examinethe effect of pageant participation on the devel-opment of eating disorders, body image preoc-cupation, and self-esteem over time.

Several limitations to this study should beaddressed. First, the cross-sectional nature ofthis questionnaire does not allow for causalityof future health risk or risk behaviors to besuggested. Second, the women could selective-ly choose to complete and return the survey,so, this sample might be considered self-select-


TABLE 4Pearson correlation coefficients for Body Mass Index.

body image preoccupation, self-esteem, level of pageant participa-tion (1 - local to 5 - intemational), and number of times

a pageant finalist or wmnner (n=131).

Variable M SD 1 2 3 4 5

1.Body Mass Index 23.69 5.35 —

2. Bodyimagepreoccupation 30.60 12.66 0.38* —

3. Self-esteem 8.67 1.79 -.30* -55* —

4. Level of pageant 2.38 .76 -.07 -.17 0.27* —participation

5.Number of times a pageantfinalist or winner 9.59 14.82 0.11 0.15 -0.04 0.31* —

*p<0.05



ed. Those women with heightened weight con-cern may have been more motivated to com-plete the survey. We, however, have no reasonto believe this occurred.

In conclusion, this study raises some interest-ing questions regarding beauty pageant partic-ipation. Although rates of eating disordersseemed high among participants, higher self-esteem was significantly associated with levelof pageant participation. Future study in thisarea is warranted.

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beauty is as beauty does: body image and self-esteem of pageant contestants

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