The purpose of this study was 1) to identify gender differences in appearance management behavior and influencing variables(media involvement, body satisfaction and self-esteem), 2) the effects of influencing variables on appearance management behavior, and 3) to analyze the relationships among influencing variables. The data were collected ken 458 fifth and sixth grade girls and boys of five elementary schools ill Seoul, Korea via self-administered questionnaires, and were analyzed by factor analysis, t-test, and multiple regression analysis. The results of this study were as follows: Regarding the gender differences in research variables, preteen girls showed more interest in clothing/hair style management, weight management, TV involvement and celebrity imitation than preteen boys. Girls showed lower level of satisfaction than boys. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to identify the effects of media involvement, body satisfaction and self-esteem on appearance management behavior. For boy group, clothing/hair style interest was influenced by celebrity imitation, and weight management by TV involvement, body satisfaction and school self-esteem, and height management by celebrity management and school self-esteem. For girl group, clothing/hair style management was influenced by celebrity imitation and general self-esteem, and weight management by body satisfaction, general self-esteem, celebrity imitation and TV involvement, and height management by school self-esteem, TV involvement, time spent watching TV and general self-esteem. From the results of analyzing relationships among influencing variables, it was found that media involvement influenced self-esteem; TV involvement and celebrity imitation influenced school self-esteem; body satisfaction had the effect on all three sub dimensions of self-esteem in boy group. For female group, TV involvement had the effect on body satisfaction, and celebrity imitation on general self-esteem, the family self-esteem and school self-esteem, and body satisfaction on all three sub dimensions of self-esteem.