Prediction of Social Comparison Based on Perfectionism, Self-Concept Clarity, and Self-Esteem

Background Eating and body image disorders are 2 of the most debilitating clinical problems among female adolescents and young females. One of the strongest factors contributing to body dissatisfaction and eating pathology is social comparison. Objectives The current study aimed at determining the relationship between perfectionism, self-concept clarity, and self-esteem and the share of prediction of each in social comparison. Methods The current cross sectional study included all female high school students in Tehran in the 2014 - 2015 academic year. Of these, 477 females were selected by multistage cluster sampling. Results The results of the correlation matrix was indicative of a significant negative relationship between self-esteem and self-concept clarity with social comparison (P < 0.000). There was a significant positive relationship between perfectionism and social comparison (P < 0.000). The results of stepwise regression revealed that self-concept clarity predicted 17% of social comparison variance. By including the variables of perfectionism and self-esteem, the coefficients of determination increased significantly up to 24% and 26%, respectively. Self-esteem and self-concept clarity were significant negative predictors (P < 0.000), while perfectionism was a significant positive predictor (P < 0.000) of social comparison. Beta coefficients indicated that among the predictive variables, self-concept clarity, and self-esteem were able to predict social comparison more than perfectionism (β = -0.28, β = 0.27, and β = -0.18, respectively). Conclusions Targeting individual differences that make people vulnerable to social comparison not only contributes to understanding the development of eating problems and body image, but also has implications for prevention and treatment.