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Updated: May 19, 2026

Validation of a Psychosocial Intervention on Body Image in Older People: An Experimental Design
Published on: May 31, 2021
Brief report: maltreatment in childhood and body concerns in adulthood
Leah Brooke1, Alexander J Mussap
1Deakin University, Australia.
Objective:
We examined the relationship between maltreatment in childhood and body concerns in adulthood.
Method:
A community sample of 156 women and 143 men completed measures of maltreatment - frequency of sexual abuse, physical abuse, physical neglect, emotional abuse and emotional neglect - in childhood. They also reported current dissatisfaction with body weight and shape and drive for thinness and drive for muscle.
Results And Conclusions:
Childhood maltreatment was associated with drive for muscle in women and body dissatisfaction and drive for thinness in men. The results provide some evidence that adverse conditions in childhood can be associated with gender-atypical body concerns in adulthood.
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