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Body surveillance as a prospective risk factor for depressive symptoms in low-income adolescent girls from the United States
- Source :
- Body Image
- Publication Year :
- 2020
-
Abstract
- Adolescent girls who engage in frequent self-objectification often report a greater number of depressive symptoms. Although concurrent associations between self-objectification and depression are well-documented, it is less clear if objectification contributes to the course of symptoms. The current study examined: (a) whether body surveillance is prospectively related to depressive symptoms over a 1-month period in a sample of 150 low-income adolescent girls in the United States, and; (b) whether receiving certain types of weight-relevant information (i.e., learning one's weight is much higher than estimated) moderates this association. Heightened body surveillance at baseline predicted greater symptom severity one month later, but the strength of this relationship depended on what type of weight information girls received. Among girls high in body surveillance, those who found out their actual weight was much higher than they estimated subsequently reported more severe depressive symptoms; those who learned their actual weight was consistent or lower than they estimated reported fewer depressive symptoms. For girls low in body surveillance, weight-relevant information was not significantly related to the subsequent severity of depressive symptoms. Findings highlight the potential utility of assessing and addressing heightened body surveillance in depression interventions for adolescent girls.
- Subjects :
- Low income
050103 clinical psychology
Social Psychology
Adolescent
Psychological intervention
050109 social psychology
Article
Actual weight
Risk Factors
Body Image
Humans
0501 psychology and cognitive sciences
Prospective Studies
Poverty
General Psychology
Applied Psychology
Depression (differential diagnoses)
Depressive symptoms
Depression
05 social sciences
Symptom severity
Prospective risk
United States
Self-objectification
Female
Psychology
Clinical psychology
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 18736807
- Volume :
- 36
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Body image
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....f27288b820366e5bdb0c6ec57ad16e10