title: Does Body Satisfaction Help or Harm Overweight Teens? A 10-Year Longitudinal Study of the Relationship Between Body Satisfaction and Body Mass Index.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study examines the relationship between body satisfaction of overweight adolescents and 10-year changes in body mass index (BMI).
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants who were overweight as adolescents (n = 496) were drawn from Project Eating and Activity in Teens and Young Adults (Project EAT), a 10-year longitudinal study.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among overweight girls, a significant difference in 10-year BMI change across baseline body satisfaction quartiles was observed. Overweight girls with the lowest body satisfaction at baseline had a nearly three unit greater increase in BMI at follow-up, compared with overweight girls in the high body satisfaction quartile; this difference has important clinical significance. Among overweight boys, no significant associations between body satisfaction quartile and change in BMI were not observed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Overall, findings indicate that among overweight adolescents, a high level of body satisfaction during adolescence was not harmful, and in fact may be beneficial for girls, in terms of long-term weight management. These findings refute the commonly held notion that overweight young people should be dissatisfied with their bodies to motivate positive change.
authors.affiliation: Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota; Department of Psychiatry, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota; Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Electronic address: kloth@umn.edu.
authors.forename: Katie A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Loth
authors.affiliation: Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
authors.forename: Allison W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Watts
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas.
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: van den Berg
authors.affiliation: Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
authors.forename: Dianne
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Neumark-Sztainer
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001828:Body Image / Q000523:psychology*; D015992:Body Mass Index; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D050177:Overweight / Q000523:psychology*; D012737:Sex Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: BMI; Body acceptance; Body satisfaction; Longitudinal; Obesity; Overweight; Weight gain; Weight management