International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health | August 2017 | Vol 4 | Issue 8 Page 2767 International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health de Gracia M et al. Int J Community Med Public Health. 2017 Aug;4(8):2767-2773 http://www.ijcmph.com pISSN 2394-6032 | eISSN 2394-6040 Original Research Article Cross-cultural determinants of pre-adolescent self-esteem and body image Manuel de Gracia 1 , Patricia Trujano 2 *, Carlos Nava 2 , Gilberto Limón 3 INTRODUCTION Culturally bound definitions of what is desirable and attractive, play an important role in subject´s body image formation, as an example of this is the observation that Western society places a high value upon appearance, so self-esteem is enhanced for those who are judged attractive and is challenged for those who are deemed unattractive. Cultural factors related to globalization that contribute to eating disorders, such as thin body ideals, exposure to transnational media, social transition, and modernization, have been found to be compelling in the cross-cultural data. 1 Body image however, is much more than an individual’s physical appearance, attractiveness, and beauty. It is the mental representation that individuals have of themselves and it actively influences behavior, self-esteem, psychopathology, and a person’s ideal body shape. 2 Results from studies dealing with regarding dietary behavior disturbances showed that social, cultural, and ABSTRACT Background: The general framework of this research is that the sociocultural context and socio-economic conditions in different countries representing the macro-system of the transactional model of health, with varying degrees of cultural and linguistic familiarity and contact history. Culturally bound definitions of what is desirable and attractive play an important role in body image formation. Methods: The aim of this cross-cultural study was to evaluate the different effects of general self-esteem, eating attitudes and behaviors, and the subjective perception of body image in two representative samplings of urban pre- adolescents (9-12 years old). All the participants were given the following tests: LAWSEQ, ChEAT-26, CFD, and BEStudy. Results: The multiple linear regression analysis showed the relative contribution of each independent variable: the LAWSEQ score explained 12.8% of the variance of the BES score, followed by the BMI (9.3%), the ChEAT-26 score (9.1%), and the CFD (7.8%). The results showed a differential profile between the two samplings. Conclusions: General self-esteem was the strongest predictive variable associated with higher levels of body esteem, while habits and behaviors related to worry about food and the choice of a thinner body image ideal were predictive of lower body esteem, regardless of the nationality, sex, or age of the participants. Keywords: Body ideals, Preadolescents, Self-esteem, Eating disorders 1 Departamento de Psicología, Universidad de Gerona, España 2 Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Campus Iztacala, México 3 Facultad de Psicología. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México Received: 25 May 2017 Revised: 12 June 2017 Accepted: 15 June 2017 *Correspondence: Dr. Patricia Trujano, E-mail: trujano@unam.mx Copyright: © the author(s), publisher and licensee Medip Academy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20173320