Mothers and Their Adolescent Daughters: Relationship Between Self-Esteem, Gender Role Identity, Body Image

The relationship between the predictor variables of self-esteem and gender role identity, and the criterion measure of body image, were examined for 82 mothers and their menstrual daughters, and for 31 mothers and their premenstrual daughters. Findings from the regression analyses indicated that higher self-esteem was significantly related to positive body image scores for menstrual daughters and both groups of mothers, but not for the premenstrual participants. The role of gender identity in contributing to body image was more complex, with greater femininity being correlated with more positive body image for the premenstrual daughters and for the mothers of the menstrual daughters, and greater masculinity being correlated with more positive body image scores for the menstrual girls in the study. Mothers' body image scores were positively correlated with their daughters' body image scores for mother/menstrual daughter pairs but not for the mother/premenstrual daughter pairs in the study. Results support a complex relationship between age, physical maturation, and mother/daughter dynamics in contributing to the development of a positive body image for adolescent girls during puberty.