title: Sex Differences in Quality of Life Impairment Associated With Body Dissatisfaction in Adolescents.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Body dissatisfaction is strongly associated with quality of life impairment among both male and female adults, and the strength of this relationship is comparable between the sexes. Whether this is the case among adolescents, however, is unclear.
  
  
  METHODS
  Adolescent girls (n = 1,135) and boys (n = 531) aged 12-18 years were recruited from secondary schools located in the Australian Capital Territory, Australia. Students completed a survey that included measures of body dissatisfaction, eating disorder symptoms, and psychosocial health- and physical health-related quality of life.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Girls reported higher levels of dissatisfaction than boys for each of the 12 body features assessed. The strength of the adverse associations between body dissatisfaction and quality of life impairment did not, however, differ by sex, and this was the case for both physical health-related and psychosocial quality of life domains. For both girls and boys, associations between body dissatisfaction and both quality of life impairment persisted after controlling for eating disorder symptoms, body mass index, and other covariates.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  While levels of body dissatisfaction remain higher in girls than in boys, the adverse impact of body dissatisfaction on adolescents' quality of life does not appear to differ by sex. This impact entails impairment in both physical health and psychosocial quality of life domains and does not appear to be accounted for by an association between body dissatisfaction and eating disorder pathology. The findings support the need to conceive of body dissatisfaction as a public health concern in its own right.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Applied Psychology, Faculty of Health, University of Canberra, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia; Research School of Psychology, College of Medicine, Biology and Environment, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia; Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Electronic address: scottgriffiths@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Scott
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Griffiths
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California.
authors.forename: Stuart B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Murray
authors.affiliation: Research School of Psychology, College of Medicine, Biology and Environment, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bentley
authors.affiliation: Research School of Psychology, College of Medicine, Biology and Environment, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.
authors.forename: Kassandra
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Gratwick-Sarll
authors.affiliation: Research School of Psychology, College of Medicine, Biology and Environment, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.
authors.forename: Carmel
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Harrison
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; School of Medicine, Western Sydney University, Campbelltown, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Jonathan M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Mond
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001315:Australia; D001828:Body Image; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011788:Quality of Life; D012737:Sex Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Adolescents; Body dissatisfaction; Body image; Boys; Gender differences; Quality of life; Sex differences; girls