self-acceptance in adolescent girls: the roles of body image and perfectionism with mental toughness as a mediator

Background: body image, perfectionism, and mental toughness can significantly influence self-acceptance in adolescent girls, affecting their psychological well-being. objectives: this study investigated how body image and perfectionism influence self-acceptance in adolescent girls, with mental toughness as a mediating factor. methods: this correlational study included 400 female high school students from kahnuj during the 2023 - 2024 academic year. data were collected using cash's (2015) body image questionnaire, clough et al.'s (2012) mental toughness questionnaire, chamberlain and haaga's (2021) unconditional self-acceptance questionnaire, and short et al.'s (2010) perfectionism questionnaire. analysis employed pearson correlation, multiple regression, and the sobel test using spss 25 and amos 24. results: mental toughness significantly mediated the relationships between self-acceptance and body image [variance accounted for (vaf) = 0.321] and positive perfectionism (vaf = 0.263), but not negative perfectionism (vaf = 0.126). in addition, significant direct effects were observed between body image and mental toughness (β = 0.26, p = 0.001), positive perfectionism and mental toughness (β = 0.23, p = 0.007), negative perfectionism and mental toughness (β = -0.24, p = 0.004), body image and self-acceptance (β = 0.17, p = 0.001), positive perfectionism and self-acceptance (β = 0.20, p = 0.001), negative perfectionism and self-acceptance (β = -0.52, p = 0.001), and mental toughness and self-acceptance (β = 0.31, p = 0.001). model fit showed acceptable values: chi-square/degrees of freedom = 4.26, goodness-of-fit index = 0.90, incremental fit index = 0.926, comparative fit index = 0.926, root mean square error of approximation = 0.078. conclusions: positive body image and adaptive perfectionism enhance mental toughness, thereby fostering self-acceptance, whereas maladaptive perfectionism directly reduces self-acceptance. interventions should target these factors to promote psychological well-being in adolescent girls.