Body dissatisfaction from adolescence to young adulthood: Findings from a 10-year longitudinal study

Abstract

Given mixed findings regarding the unique trajectories of female and male adolescents’ body dissatisfaction over time, comprehensive longitudinal examinations are needed. This 10-year longitudinal, population-based study, with 1,902 participants from diverse ethnic/racial and socioeconomic backgrounds in the Minneapolis/St. Paul metropolitan area, examined changes in body dissatisfaction from adolescence to young adulthood. Results revealed that: (a) female and male participants’ body dissatisfaction increased between middle and high school,(b) body dissatisfaction increased further during the transition to young adulthood, and (c) this increase was associated with an increase in BMI over time, such that the upward trend in body dissatisfaction became non-significant when BMI was controlled. These results highlight a trend in which diverse female and male youth are increasingly dissatisfied with their bodies as their BMI increases from middle school to young adulthood, and emphasize the need for targeted prevention efforts to intervene in this trajectory and mitigate potential harm.

Satisfaction of Body Image in Adolescents With Different Maturity Stages

“…Interestingly, when we analyzed the direction of body dissatisfaction of boys in the accelerated stage, we found they desire to reduce their silhouette (p < 0.001). This finding diverged from previous studies that reported that boys' body dissatisfaction was toward the desire to increase their silhouette in search of a stronger and more muscular profile 20,21 . When analyzing BMI, however, we found that 100% of boys in the accelerated stage were above the 97th percentile (data not shown), which may partially justify the desire to reduce the silhouette.…”

A Study of Children’s Body Image and Depression in Korea

“…Such a negative body image has led to body dissatisfaction and the percentage of students dissatisfied with their body, regardless of gender, has been on the continuous increase for the past ten years [1,2]. A study in school-age children found that there were more children satisfied with their body weight (39.1%) than those hoping to lose weight (47.1%).…”

The reciprocal and indirect relationships between passive Facebook use, comparison on Facebook, and adolescents' body dissatisfaction

“…Due to these changes, the intensity of body dissatisfaction (i.e., the subjective negative evaluation of one's figure or body parts) increases throughout this developmental period (e.g., Bucchianeri, Arikian, Hannan, Eisenberg, & Neumark-Sztainer, 2013). Given that body dissatisfaction is one of the most important risk factors for eating disorders and related health outcomes in adolescence (e.g., NeumarkSztainer, Paxton, Hannan, Haines, & Story, 2006), it is critical to understand factors that contribute to adolescents' body dissatisfaction.…”