• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.34 no.10
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• pp.1731-1741
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• 2010

Personal appearance attitude about the ideal beauty is influenced by the context of the culture one belongs to. In a cultural sphere the higher public self-consciousness individuals have then the more sensitive one would be to the sociocultural pressure about thinness and thus the higher the expectations about the ideal appearance. Accordingly, in that culture one would have more body shame when they do not reach the ideal beauty standard. This study examines the difference between Korean and German culture, with a focus on the age group of university students who are especially sensitive to aesthetic consciousness. The results are as follows: There were differences of public self-consciousness, perceived sociocultural pressure, appearance internalization, appearance awareness and body shame between the two cultural spheres; in addition, Korean female university students were significantly higher in all the variables when compared to German female university students. The higher public self-consciousness and perceived sociocultural pressure then the higher the internalization of the ideal appearance; the ideal appearance awareness increased the body shame. In the case of the German female university student group, public self-consciousness influenced body shame directly; however, in case of the Korean female university student group public self-consciousness were not directly affective. Rather, perceived sociocultural pressures directly affected body shame and showed the difference between the cultural spheres. Finally, in regards to the direct effect about body shame, the German female university student group noted the influence of public self-consciousness as the most significant; however, the Korean female university student group noted the influence of sociocultural pressure as the most significant.