Body image and face image in Asian American and white women: Examining associations with surveillance, construal of self, perfectionism, and sociocultural pressures

•We examined body image and face satisfaction in White and Asian American women.•Asian American women reported lower appearance evaluation and face satisfaction.•Asian American women were substantially less satisfied with their eye appearance.•Sociocultural factors were strongly linked to appearance evaluation for all women.•Ethnic differences in face image produce differences in appearance evaluation.

Asian American women experience sociocultural pressures that could place them at increased risk for experiencing body and face dissatisfaction. Asian American and White women completed measures of appearance evaluation, overweight preoccupation, face satisfaction, face dissatisfaction frequency, perfectionism, surveillance, interdependent and independent self-construal, and perceived sociocultural pressures. In Study 1 (N = 182), Asian American women were more likely than White women to report low appearance evaluation (24% vs. 12%; d = −0.50) and to be sometimes-always dissatisfied with the appearance of their eyes (38% vs. 6%; d = 0.90) and face overall (59% vs. 34%; d = 0.41). In Study 2 (N = 488), they were more likely to report low appearance evaluation (36% vs. 23%; d = −0.31) and were less likely to report high eye appearance satisfaction (59% vs. 88%; d = −0.84). The findings highlight the importance of considering ethnic differences when assessing body and face image.