Body size and body esteem in women: The mediating role of possible self expectancy

• This study utilized Bayesian Structural Equation Modeling.
• We model possible selves as mediators of BMI on women's body esteem.
• A feared fat self and a hoped-for thin self mediate BMI on body esteem.
• Mediation though the feared self is stronger than that through the hoped-for self.

We predicted that an expectancy of acquiring a feared fat self and an expectancy of acquiring a hoped-for thin self both mediate the impact of body size on women's body esteem. We also predicted that the mediating pathway through the feared fat self would be stronger than that through the hoped-for thin self. A community sample of 251 women reported their age, height, weight, and completed measures of body esteem and expectancy perceptions of acquiring the feared fat and hoped-for thin selves. Bayesian Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) demonstrated that expectancies about the feared fat self and about the hoped-for thin self mediated the relationship between body size and body esteem. Bayesian SEM also revealed that the pathway through the feared fat self was stronger than that through the hoped-for thin self. Implications for future research and the development of eating pathology are discussed.