Understanding affective and cognitive self-evaluations about the body for adolescent girls.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to understand relations between cognitive and affective self-evaluations about the body for adolescent girls in the context of their diverse experiences of the body.


METHODS
The project involved adolescent girls (N = 141), including underweight to overweight schoolgirls, and hospitalized girls with anorexia nervosa (AN). Materials were brief, reliable inventories of self-concepts about body, movement and appearance, and feelings about the body.


RESULTS
Measurement models confirmed the related yet discrete self-concepts about the body, movement and appearance, and feeling OK, guilt, worry, disgust, and anger about the body. Self-concepts and feelings were not correlated with body weight, and were sensitive and specific for girls with AN versus low-weight schoolgirls. Relations among self-concepts and feelings about the body vary with the context. In particular, self-concepts and feelings about the body were incongruent for AN girls with acute experiences of making self-evaluations of their bodies.


CONCLUSIONS
It is clear that self-evaluations by adolescent girls do not necessarily reflect actual body weight. Findings suggest that associations between thoughts and feelings about the body vary with diverse experiences of the body. Results support brief, reliable, and valid indicators of self-concepts and feelings about the body that are vital in the design of prevention, intervention, and monitoring, and the evaluation of programmes for girls in clinical and educational settings.
Bornholt
Laurel
L
University of Sydney, Australia. l.bornholt@usyd.edu.au
Brake
Nicki
N
Thomas
Sian
S
Russell
Lesley
L
Madden
Sloane
S
Anderson
Gail
G
Kohn
Michael
M
Clarke
Simon
S
D000293:Adolescent; D000339:Affect; D000856:Anorexia Nervosa / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D001364:Awareness; D001828:Body Image; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009517:New South Wales; D012649:Self Concept; D012647:Self-Assessment; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013850:Thinking