Assessment of Quality of Life, Self-Esteem and Body Image Perception According to Marital Status in Employed Women

Abstract

Background: Women feel under pressure because of marriage issues that affect their lives. Marriage and divorce are important events that change people’s lives affecting their health, economic condition and well-being in addition to reflecting social and cultural concerns in Eastern Arab societies. The objectives of the study are to assess the quality of life (QoL), self-esteem and body image perception (BIP) according to marital status in employed women in Zagazig University. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed including 216 employed women in administrative departments in faculties of Zagazig University. A structured Arabic questionnaire was used consisting of four parts: Sociodemographic data, quality of life using Arabic version of (WHOQOL-BREF) questionnaire, women self-Esteem using Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale (RSS), BIP, and body image satisfaction using modified body image figure scale adapted from (Stunkard Figure Rating Scale). Results: Regarding QoL, 62.1% of married women had moderate QoL, while 47.2% of single women had high self-esteem, 76% of divorced women correctly estimated their body images and 30.6% of single women were satisfied with their body images. There was a substantial relationship between self-esteem and QoL for different marital status except in divorced women. There was a remarkable association between BIP and QoL in widow women (r=-0.531, p-value=0.041). There was a significant link between body image satisfaction and QoL in single and divorced women (r=0.438&0.404, p-value=0.007&0.045) respectively. Conclusion: Quality of life is affected by marital status, while self-esteem and body image perception are not affected by marital status of employed women.