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Self-esteem and body satisfaction among late adolescents with acne: results from a population survey
Florence Dalgard1, Uwe Gieler, Jan Øivind Holm
1Institute of General Practice and Community Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway. fdalgard@jbcc.harvard.edu
Background:
The association of acne and self-evaluation is barely explored among late adolescents in the general population.
Objective:
We sought to explore self-esteem, body satisfaction, and acne among 18-year-old young adults at a community level.
Methods:
We conducted a questionnaire-based survey among 3775 late adolescents.
Results:
Our response rate was 80%. The prevalence of acne was 13.5%. Girls and boys with acne had significantly more depressive symptoms, lower self-attitude, more feelings of uselessness, fewer feelings of pride, lower self-worth, and lower body satisfaction than those without acne. In a regression model adjusting for body mass index and depressive symptoms, acne explained significantly poor self-attitude for boys only (odds ratio 2.07 [confidence interval 1.10; 3.88]) and poor self-worth for girls only (odds ratio 1.88 [confidence interval 1.23; 2.88]).
Limitations:
Not all items of the self-esteem instrument were included.
Conclusions:
At age 18 years, acne is related to self-evaluation independent of body mass index and depressive symptoms.
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