Body-image and eating disturbances prospectively predict increases in depressive symptoms in adolescent girls: A growth curve analysis.

TLDR

The study tested whether body‑image and eating disturbances might partially explain the increase in depression observed in adolescent girls. Data from a longitudinal community study of 231 girls were used to assess this relationship. Initial pressure to be thin, thin‑ideal internalization, body dissatisfaction, dieting, and bulimic symptoms, along with their increases over time, predicted subsequent rises in depressive symptoms, and these effects persisted after controlling for social support and emotionality, confirming that body‑image and eating disturbances contribute to adolescent girls’ elevated depression.

Abstract

Using data from a longitudinal community study (N = 231), the authors tested whether body-image and eating disturbances might partially explain the increase in depression observed in adolescent girls. Initial pressure to be thin, thin-ideal internalization, body dissatisfaction, dieting, and bulimic symptoms, but not body mass, predicted subsequent increases in depressive symptoms, as did increases in these risk factors over the study. There was also prospective support for each of the hypothesized mediational relations linking these risk factors to increases in depressive symptoms. Effects remained significant when other established gender-nonspecific risk factors for depression (social support and emotionality) were statistically controlled. Results provide support for the assertion that body-image and eating disturbances, operating above and beyond gender-nonspecific risk factors, contribute to the elevated depression in adolescent girls.