en روان شناسی تکاملی Evolutionary Psychology پژوهشي Original <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color:#3300ff;"><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="line-height:2;"><b>Objective</b>: The purpose of the present research was to investigate the mediating role of anxiety in the relationship between body image dissatisfaction and self-esteem; and to test whether gender moderated the proposed mediation model. <span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"></span></span><br> <b>Methods</b>: The sample participated in the study consisted of 50 adult men and women (24% men and 76% women), age from 25 to 68, attending aesthetic procedures, from November 2023 till March 2024, in&nbsp; one of the Ahvaz clinics.&nbsp; Three self-report instruments were used in this study which consisted of Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-Y) and, Littleton et al. (2005) Body Image Concern Inventory. Also, some information related to the characteristics of the respondents (gender and the level of education), were collected.<br> <b>Results</b>: The results indicated that (a) body image dissatisfaction negatively associated with self-esteem, (b) state anxiety plays a mediating role between body image dissatisfaction and self-esteem, (c) state anxiety negatively predicted self-esteem, (d) body image dissatisfaction positively related to state anxiety, and (e) gender was a moderator; meaning that the path from body image dissatisfaction to self-esteem was stronger for females than for males.<br> <b>Conclusions</b>: The findings have implications for improving self-esteem through body image and anxiety for men and women.</span></span></span></span></div> Self-esteem, State anxiety, Body image dissatisfaction, Gender, Moderated mediation 141 162 http://ieepj.hormozgan.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-929-1&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Maneli Shehni Karamzadeh maneli.karamzadeh@gmail.com 10031947532846009877 10031947532846009877 Yes General Physician (Specialized in Aesthetic), Private Practice in Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran