Abstract

CONTRERAS-VALDEZ, José Alfredo; HERNANDEZ-GUZMAN, Laura  and  FREYRE, Miguel-Ángel. Body dissatisfaction, self-esteem, and depression in girls with obesity. Rev. Mex. de trastor. aliment [online]. 2016, vol.7, n.1, pp.24-31. ISSN 2007-1523.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rmta.2016.04.001.

The purpose of this research was to study the potential association between the constructs body dissatisfaction, self-esteem and depression in girls with obesity. Participants were 231 preadolescents aged 10 to 13 years from Mexico City, who were ranked into the Obesity, Overweight and Normal Weight groups for the first analysis, and into four groups according to their body mass index and levels of body dissatisfaction for the second analysis. Participants completed the Body Shape Questionnaire-16, the Child Self-Esteem Test and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. Through analysis of variance, girls with overweight and those with obesity reported more body dissatisfaction than their peers with normal weight. Girls with any weight and higher levels of body dissatisfaction showed lower self-esteem and more symptoms of depression than those with no-high body dissatisfaction. Obesity was associated to body dissatisfaction in female preteens, and only when there were high levels of body dissatisfaction, obesity was also related to girls' self-esteem and depression. However, body dissatisfaction did not mediate the relationship between obesity and self-esteem, neither between obesity and depression.

Keywords : Thinness; Emotions; Adiposity; Unconformity; Puberty.