title: Toward understanding the role of body dissatisfaction in the gender differences in depressive symptoms and disordered eating: a longitudinal study during adolescence.
abstract: This study was aimed at examining whether body dissatisfaction in early adolescence contributes to the development of gender differences in depressive symptoms and disordered eating across early to mid-adolescence, testing both a mediation hypothesis (higher levels of body dissatisfaction in girls, provided body dissatisfaction is a predictor of psychopathology beyond the effect of gender) and a moderation hypothesis (more detrimental effect of body dissatisfaction in girls). A community-based sample initially comprising 882 (49.55% female) adolescents (M(age) = 12.85) was followed-up after 2 and 4 years. Multilevel models were used to analyze the data. Results supported the mediation hypothesis for depressive symptoms and disordered eating, and the moderation hypothesis for disordered eating. Whereas gender differences in depressive symptoms may be simply linked to dissimilar levels of body dissatisfaction in girls and boys, gender differences in disordered eating may arise from both dissimilar levels and effects of body dissatisfaction for each gender.
authors: Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, A Coruña, Spain. Electronic address: fatima.ferreiro@usc.es.
authors: Fátima
authors: F
authors: Ferreiro
authors: Department of Methodology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, A Coruña, Spain. Electronic address: mgloria.seoane@usc.es.
authors: Gloria
authors: G
authors: Seoane
authors: Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, A Coruña, Spain. Electronic address: carmen.senra@usc.es.
authors: Carmen
authors: C
authors: Senra
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001828:Body Image; D002648:Child; D003863:Depression; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D012649:Self Concept; D012737:Sex Factors
keywords: Body dissatisfaction; Depressive symptoms; Disordered eating; Gender differences