1. Peer Victimization in Adolescents With Severe Obesity: The Roles of Self-Worth and Social Support in Associations With Psychosocial Adjustment.
- Author
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Reiter-Purtill, Jennifer, Gowey, Marissa A., Austin, Heather, Smith, Kevin C., Rofey, Dana L., Jenkins, Todd M., Garland, Beth H., Zeller, Meg H., and TeenView Study Group and in cooperation with Teen-LABS Consortium
- Subjects
PEER relations ,OVERWEIGHT teenagers ,SELF-esteem in adolescence ,SOCIAL skills in adolescence ,SOCIAL support ,PSYCHOLOGICAL adaptation in adolescence ,PSYCHOLOGY ,MORBID obesity ,ADAPTABILITY (Personality) ,BULLYING ,COMPARATIVE studies ,RESEARCH methodology ,MEDICAL cooperation ,RESEARCH ,SELF-evaluation ,SELF-perception ,SOCIAL adjustment ,TEENAGERS' conduct of life ,PSYCHOLOGY of crime victims ,AFFINITY groups ,EVALUATION research ,CROSS-sectional method - Abstract
Objective: To examine the associations of peer victimization with internalizing symptoms, externalizing symptoms, social competence, and academic performance in a clinical sample of adolescents with severe obesity, and whether self-worth and social support affect these associations.Methods: Multisite cross-sectional data from 139 adolescents before weight loss surgery ( M age = 16.9; 79.9% female, 66.2% White; M Body Mass Index [BMI] = 51.5 kg/m 2 ) and 83 nonsurgical comparisons ( M age = 16.1; 81.9% female, 54.2% White; M BMI = 46.9 kg/m 2 ) were collected using self-reports with standardized measures.Results: As a group, participants did not report high levels of victimization. Self-worth mediated the effects of victimization on a majority of measures of adjustment, and further analyses provided evidence of the buffering effect of social support for some mediational models.Conclusions: Self-worth and social support are important targets for prevention and intervention for both victimization and poor adjustment in adolescent severe obesity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]- Published
- 2017
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