Beyond Crowns, Sashes, and Heels: Factors associated with self-esteem and achievement motivation among local beauty pageant candidates

Abstract

The Filipinos have a deep devotion to pageantry since Filipino beauty queens have dominated the biggest international pageants in the world. This study aims to determine the factors associated with self-esteem and achievement motivation among local beauty pageant candidates. The mixed-method research made use of the descriptive-correlational study design. Thematic analysis was employed for the qualitative data. Meanwhile, descriptive statistics using percentage analysis and inferential statistics using linear regression were utilized to analyze the quantitative data. The pageant experience factors that were found to facilitate a high self-esteem and achievement motivation are support from family, friends, and pageant camps, high placements during the competitions, the advocacies of pageant organizations especially during the pandemic, and the success of former Filipino beauty queens. Meanwhile, the factors that hinder high self-esteem and achievement motivation are pressures brought by pageantry like age and budget, body image issues, rigid stereotypical standards of beauty, and foul remarks from the media. Meanwhile, their pageant experiences have also been found to affect the values, mindset, and motivation in the other ambitions they wish to pursue. This quantitative bivariate regression conducted in this study affirmed the qualitative data. There is a strong relationship found between overall pageant experience and self-esteem. At the same time, there is a moderate relationship between overall pageant experience and achievement motivation of the local pageant candidates that was discovered. This study was able to highlight that the different factors in the pageant experiences of local pageant contenders can have effects on their self-esteem and achievement motivation.