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Updated: Jul 4, 2026

Validation of a Psychosocial Intervention on Body Image in Older People: An Experimental Design
Published on: May 31, 2021
Habitual negative body image thinking as psychological risk factor in adolescents
1Department of Psychology, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, UK. B.Verplanken@bath.ac.uk
Abstract:
Negative body image thinking can be broken down into cognitive content (body dissatisfaction thoughts) and the way such thoughts occur. The present study focused on negative body image thinking as mental habit, i.e., the degree to which such thinking occurs frequently and automatically [Verplanken, Friborg, Wang, Trafimow, & Woolf, 2007]. In a sample of 250 adolescents (age 12-15) it was found that negative body image thinking habit uniquely accounted for variance in self-esteem and eating disturbance propensity over and above body image dissatisfaction. Considering negative body image thinking as a mental habit contributes to a deeper understanding of body dissatisfaction in adolescents, and may have implications for interventions to deal with such attitudes and their potentially harmful consequences.
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