Mediating Role of Social Competence: Family Communication and Body Satisfaction among Male College Students

This study examined whether social competence mediates the association between family communication and undergraduate males' body satisfaction. Male undergraduate students (N=442) completed an online survey assessing their perceptions of mothers' as well as fathers' family communication patterns (FCPs), social competence, and body satisfaction. Results generally supported the hypothesized model. Conversation orientation, regardless of whether mothers' or fathers', was positively associated with social competence, which, in turn, was positively related to body satisfaction. On the other hand, the role of conformity orientation in predicting males' body satisfaction varied by parental sex (mothers or fathers): Mothers' conformity orientation was associated with body satisfaction through social competence in an expected manner, whereas fathers' conformity orientation was related to none of the endogenous variables. However, once mothers' FCPs were eliminated from the model, fathers' conformity orientation became a direct as well as indirect predictor of sons' body satisfaction through social competence. Interpretations of the findings, practical implications, and a future direction are discussed.