Interpersonal rejection results in increased appearance satisfaction for women who rely on body weight for self-worth

• Women higher in body weight contingent self-worth (BWCSW) report lower appearance satisfaction.
• BWCSW moderates the effects of social rejection on appearance satisfaction.
• Following rejection, women with higher BWCSW report greater appearance satisfaction.
• This reaction from high BWCSW women is interpreted as appearance compensatory self-enhancement.

This study examined whether body weight contingent self-worth (BWCSW), the tendency to base self-worth on body weight, moderates the effects of interpersonal rejection on self-esteem and body satisfaction. In an online survey, female undergraduates (N = 148) completed measures of trait self-esteem, depression, and BWCSW. In a subsequent lab session, participants were assigned to either an interpersonal rejection or to a neutral control condition, after which they completed measures of state self-esteem and body satisfaction. Compared to women with lower BWCSW, women with higher BWCSW reported lower appearance self-esteem (p = .001) and body satisfaction (p = .004) across conditions. However, they reacted to rejection by reporting greater appearance self-esteem (p = .034) and body satisfaction (p = .021). Rejection had no effect on women with lower BWCSW. The reaction of women with higher BWCSW is interpreted as a compensatory self-enhancement response to interpersonal rejection within a self-important domain.