Body Image Among Adolescent Girls and Boys: A Longitudinal Study.

TLDR

The study investigated how social, psychological, and biological factors contribute to body dissatisfaction in adolescent girls and boys. Participants (165 girls, 139 boys) completed questionnaires in 7th or 10th grade and again one year later. Boys showed a single pathway to body dissatisfaction through internalized muscularity ideals, while girls’ dissatisfaction was influenced by peer appearance conversations, social comparisons, and body mass, with no mediation in boys and limited mediation in girls.

Abstract

This longitudinal study of adolescent girls and boys examined the contributions of social (peer appearance context), psychological (internalized appearance ideals and appearance social comparison), and biological (body mass) factors to the development of body dissatisfaction. Students (165 girls and 139 boys) completed questionnaires when they were either in 7th grade or 10th grade and again 1 year later. The results for the boys revealed a singular pathway to body dissatisfaction through internalized commitment to muscularity ideals. The prospective analyses of change in body dissatisfaction among the girls reflected the contributions of appearance conversations with friends, appearance social comparisons, and body mass. There was no evidence of mediation among the boys and limited support for it among the girls.